Together, the boys and I examined the different parts of the xylophone. The first things they noticed were the bars of the xylophone and the mallets used to hit the bars. I then pointed out the pins used to hold each bar in place, which lead me to create this great fine motor activity.
Okay, now that that's off my chest...I can get to the actual activity itself.
Using a cereal box from our recycling, I cut out seven xylophone bars of various lengths. I marked each end with an X (X is for xylophone after all!) on each individual xylophone bar using a marker. I then arranged the bars in order on another cardboard box.
Of course, little hands couldn't resist the box of brightly colored unfamiliar objects. K wanted them...like right now!
The boys worked together with little guidance from me, quickly pushing pins through the Xs on each bar.
Check out that fine motor movement!
I had to rotate the box part way through the activity because it kept caving when the boys put any amount of pressure on the pins. Once I rotated the box, the boys found it much easier to push the pins in. They quickly finished putting the pins of the xylophone in, which resulted in this:
J lost interest after completing it, but K, however, proceeded to pull out all the pins and do the activity over and over multiple times. Then K and I spent some time pushing pins randomly around the box. He had a blast!