Yesterday I went out to the Scottish Seabird Centre to visit with Emily Dodd, their education officer. She uses storytelling in her work with school groups. In order to set the mood for stories, such as Percy the Puffin, she uses an ocean drum. You may be familiar with rainsticks–bamboo shakers filled with beads that make the sound of rain falling when upended. Well, ocean drums use beads to make the sound of surf breaking on a beach.
In the U.K., rainsticks, ocean drums, frog scrapers and a huge range of other weird and wonderful percussion instruments can be purchased at www.drumsforschools.co.uk. They use fairtrade principles in sourcing and purchasing their instruments and they offer discounts to schools, nurseries and students–though anyone can make a purchase from the site. So if you are looking for something to set the mood, or to make sound effects with in your storytelling, check out their site.
Restorying the Earth 