Kids jam out at Rock n' Roll event

Children had the chance to listen to and play along with a local musician last week.

During the Sweetwater County Library's summer reading program, children are encouraged to attend one of their many events.

Last week's theme was Rock n' Roll and the kids seemed to enjoy it.

Not only did they listen to musician Chuck Dittman play the guitar, they created their own musical instruments.

Some of the instruments they made including maracas, harmonicas, tambourines and castanets, which is a small concave pieces of wood, ivory or plastic joined in pairs by a cord and clicked together by the fingers.

For this event, ordinary items were used to make the instruments. For example: the tambourine was made by placing beans on a paper plate and then gluing the paper plates together.

The child would then shake the instrument and it sounded like a tambourine.

Once the kids had their instruments made, they decorated them by coloring them with various markers.

Some wrote their names on them, while others drew pictures on them.

After the children were done making the instruments, they gathered in front of Dittman to sing songs from the "Jungle Book," a blues version of Mary Had a Little Lamb, and Old McDonald had a Farm.

While he was playing, Dittman encouraged the children to tap their instruments to the beat.

Then, he asked only certain instruments to play at certain times.

The kids ended the program by tapping their instruments and a couple even danced as Dittman finished the last song.

The summer reading program and the special events come to an end in August. The end of the summer party will take place at Evers park Aug. 8 at 11 a.m.