Materials
construction paper in green, red, orange, yellow, purple, and blue
white paper
markers
glue sticks
xylophone
Instructions
l Precut construction paper rectangles of the following sizes. Cut enough for
each child to have one of each color.
Red 2" x 1"
Orange 2 1/2 " x 1"
Yellow 3" x 1"
Green 3 1/2 " x 1"
Purple 4" x 1"
Blue 4 1/2 " x 1"
What to Do
1. Give each child one set of rectangles and show the class an actual xylophone.
Point out how the bars range from largest to smallest.
2. Explain that they will be making construction paper xylophones by arranging
the paper rectangles from largest to smallest.
3. Invite the children find the largest (blue) rectangle and place it on their left.
Then have them place the smallest (red) rectangle and place it on their right.
4. Encourage the children to sort the rest of the rectangles by size, largest (left) to
smallest (right).
5. Have the children glue this arrangement on a sheet of paper so that it
resembles a xylophone.
Assessment
To assess the children's learning, consider the following:
l Did the child find the smallest rectangle without help?
l Did the child find the largest rectangle without help?
l Did the child arrange the rectangles from largest to smallest?
