7 Ways to Use A DIY Yarn Ball In Your Morning Meeting

Before becoming a kindergarten teacher, I taught elementary K-6 General Music for two years. During that time one of my favorite classroom tools was a large poofy yarn ball that I am proud to say, I made myself.

I learned about this tool from reading a blog post written by music educator David Row at Make Moments Matter. His step by step tutorial on how to make t is easy to follow and includes lots of photos. The only things I would clarify are #1) make sure you do not wrap the yarn too tightly, #2) don’t get too close to the edges of the “C” or the yarn will slide right off the cardboard template, and #3) use two zip ties to firmly secure it at the end.

I already had some skeins of yarn in my craft box, so all I needed to buy to make it were some 14″ zip ties. It took me about an hour to wrap the ball, which I did while watching Netflix.

A yarn ball was perfect for music class because it was soft and easy for students to pass and catch. Students of all age levels loved the texture (it is oh so squeezable!) and begged to play a quick game of quiet ball or hot potato with it when we had extra time at the end of a lesson.

As it turns out, it is a pretty awesome tool for kindergarten morning meeting too! Here are 7 ways to use a DIY yarn ball in your classroom morning meeting.

1. Morning Meeting Sharing Time

One of the four parts of our daily morning meeting is sharing time. Our class sits on the floor in a circle and a question or prompt is given by the teacher. You can read specific details about our morning meeting sharing time in this post. Students respond to the question by as the pass the yarn ball around, and the rule is that only the student holding it can talk. If a student does not have anything to share when the ball is passed to them, they can simply pass the ball on.

A few tips…if we are short on time, I toss the ball to a few students to answer instead of going around the whole circle. Also setting expectations is important for HOW students should pass the ball to each other (not chucking it as hard as they can at their neighbor or bopping them on the head with it). Treating the ball kindly is also emphasized – they should NOT pull strands of yarn out of the ball as they pass it or put it anywhere near their mouths. We want to share our thoughts but not our germs.

2. Number Game

The rest of this list will focus on games that can be played during the activity portion of the morning meeting. One of my favorites to start the year with is the Number Game. I learned about this game from Greg at The Kindergarten Smorgasboard and it has become one of my favorites. It is simple to play – we pick a number between 3-12 and students stand and count around the circle starting at #1. If you say the chosen number you sit down. The last person standing wins. The only twist I add is the yarn ball, which students pass as they count.

3. Buzz

This game and the next one on my list come from this video by Susan Jones at Susan Jones Teaching. Once students get really good at the Number Game, they are ready for Buzz. Once again, students stand in a circle and pass the ball while counting. This time however, when they get to a decade number they say “buzz” instead of the number and the next person in the circle must sit down. Counting resumes with the next ordinal number after the decade number that was skipped. Students also must sit down if they say an incorrect number.

4. Sparkle

“Sparkle” is similar to “Buzz” except it is not a counting game. Instead, students spell sight words given to them by the teacher. After a word is spelled correctly the next student in the circle says “sparkle” and then the next person in the circle must sit down. I like adding the yarn ball to the game as a visual cue as well as a fun tactile manipulative.

5. Popcorn ABC

We spend the first few months of kindergarten learning the letters as well as the sound and a keyword that goes with each of them. Once students have learned all the letters, we play the game Popcorn ABC with our yarn ball. Students sit in a circle for the game, and the first student is passed the ball and must say the name, sound and keyword for the letter A. That student then passes the ball to another student across the circle, who gives the letter, sound and keyword for B. Play continues in alphabetical order until all twenty-six letters have been completed.

6. Hot Potato

This one is a classic! It is another circle game where students pass the ball. You can play it with or without music. Students pretend like the yarn ball is a steaming hot potato, and pass it rapidly around the circle. If you are using music, when the music stops, the person holding the ball is out. If you are not using music you could recite a nursery rhyme or sing a song and when it ends the person holding the ball is out. If you want to use the game to review vocabulary words, math facts or just about anything, you could have students answer a question instead of getting out.

7. Quiet Ball

Last but certainly not least is Quiet Ball – a game that was near and dear to me in the music classroom. Not only was it a fantastic way to fill extra minutes when activities didn’t take as long as planned, it also was a great way to maintain my sanity when I needed a break from excessively noisy activities (i.e. bucket drumming or recorders with 30 students in the room…)

For this game students traditionally sit on top of desks, but I actually prefer that they stand on the velcro dots that are spaced throughout my classroom to play. Students throw the ball back and forth to each other and if they drop it, step off their dot, throw it poorly or make any kind of noise they are out for that round. I like to play music softly in the background for this game – I especially love using instrumental pop songs (the ones from the Bridgerton soundtrack are my favorite).

Bonus Idea…It Makes A Great Gift!

This year for Christmas I made a yarn ball for each of my kindergarten team members. I included a sheet of instructions for all the ideas I shared above. It was inexpensive to make and you can customize it to match school or classroom color themes.

Want to try making your own DIY yarn ball? Let me know how it goes and how you use it in your classroom!