I
first saw the idea of recycling old vinyl records and turning them into
spinning tops many years ago in an article by Karen Powell of
"KidsCraft Magazine ." I decided to try it with my after-school-class.
It was a huge success.
Several of my students had never
seen a vinyl record before so I began with a short history lesson using
an old portable record player I brought to the classroom.
I demonstrated how to play records by lifting the player arm, finding
the wide spaces between grooves, and gently placing the needle into the
grooves. I showed different record speeds, 33, 45 and 78. They loved the
fast speed that made the music sound like chipmunks were singing! We
talked about how rap musicians turn the record back and forth to make
scratchy tones common in their music today. The kids were simply
fascinated.
There is an abundance of old records today
because we don't use vinyl anymore. Vinyl records have been replaced by
C.D.s and portable downloads. So it's fun to find ways
to recycle old records and give them a second life.
Instructions:
1)
Begin with a clean old record. You can find them in places like garage
sales, goodwill or even at your parents and grandparent's homes.
2) Next,
cut several shapes of colored paper and glue them onto the record with a
glue stick, or modgepodge. Punch the center hole with a sharp pencil,
or icepick. Help the students with this process.
3)
Insert an old pencil pointed end first, coming up from the under side of
the record, until it catches on the metal band around the eraser.
4)
Next, take a soft plastic lid - the kind used on milk jugs - and poke a
hole into the center with a nail or ice pick. Carefully help the
students do this to avoid injury. Place the lid over the pencil and push
it down to the record. This will keep the paper and pencil in place.
5) Decorate the pencil with pipe cleaners and paper.
6) To spin, hold both sides of the record like a steering wheel and spin.
