Nostalgic, feel-good family movies have been high on our list for entertainment these days at home. The Sound of Music is one of our very favorites, and today we’re sharing a fun activity to make musical “Do-Re-Mi” glasses in partnership with The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization inspired by the classic film…
Make Your Own “Do-Re-Mi” Musical Glasses
I’ve been so happy to learn that these old favorite films like The Sound of Music really do span time and generations. My kids LOVE it. I grew up watching a lot of musicals with my family, a whole lot! There is something so timeless and beautiful about these films. A few years ago I took Henry to a The Sound of Music singalong at The Castro Theatre when we lived in SF which was SO FUN. Recently, we watched it again this time with the girls and they have been listening to the soundtrack and asking to watch it again ever since.
I have distinct memories spending hours with my sister in the mid 80s recreating The Sound of Music with my barbies. Elaborate story lines involving overturned beds transformed into boats while attempting an escape from the Nazis from a disco school dance! A bit of a departure from the original story line but so many fond memories inspired by the film.
Do you have some of those same memories of The Sound of Music?
These days, my kids have quiet time (aka screen time) every day. I try to make connections between what they’re watching and activities we do together for our quarantine home school. Last week after watching The Sound of Music we made these fun “Do-Re-Mi” musical glasses together. It’s really easy and fun to do! It’s a great lesson in music, science of sound, and also a bit of color theory too!
Here’s how to make them:
1. Collect 7 glasses from recycling and wash them clean
2. Fill each with approximately these amounts of water in cups (you can measure it out and they can pour)
1: 1/8 cup
2: 1/3 cup
3: 1/2 cup
4: 3/4 cup
5: 1 cup
6: 1 1/8 cup
7: 1 3/4 cup
3. Test out the sound by ‘dinging’ the bottles with a utensil. Adjust as needed.
4. Add colors to each so you can identify each. Just a drop or so is good otherwise it’ll be too dark. We made a rainbow starting with red and ending in purple.
5. Once you’ve adjusted it, created a music chart for children to read the music and learn the “Do-Re-Mi” song to play on the bottles. You could use boxes of colors the way we did here, or you can write out the colors as well.
6. Invite your family in for the “Do-Re-Mi” performance (check our IG post to see how it sounds!).
Thanks to The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization for sponsoring this post.