Swords with pool noodles

I cut a pool noodle in half and have started adding this sword play into my kung fu classes for children. It worked out pretty good with Noah and some of the other Saturday kids. They really went at it with each other. But At the Kung Fu Panda group, even even the stronger kids treat the noodles like the foam that they are, instead of using them like swords or sticks. What I mean by that is they kind of just wriggle them around and poke each other instead of really hacking or thrusting. It's like when being allowed to actually commit violence to each other in a safe way, they suddenly decide they don't want to. But that doesn't stop them from tripping each other or doing Kung Fu moves too close to each other's faces when they should be all facing the same direction. I've noticed that children are far more interested in hurting each other by accident than on purpose.
Anyway, this past Saturday the class was just me and my kids, which meant that I worked on some of my own stuff. I had the dragon stick with me and the pool noodles. I chose to do some of my sword forms with the pool noodles on the off chance that my children ran next to me and I didn't see them, even though there is only two of them.
I have done sword forms with sticks and swords of various weight. Obviously there is something to be said for using something very heavy. It really builds up strength. But just to make sure you don't injure yourself you should probably go slow.

But it is also interesting that even with something like a foam pool noodle, you can still get a workout. In other words, you can still really work that technique and deep stance and put a ton of energy into that foam noodle as if it were made of steel, and really get something out of it. You could say you might as well just pretend you were holding a sword and hold nothing. I have done that before too, especially indoors, but it's not as easy as you think. It's nice to know where that sword would be, so the foam noodle is a good tool. Plus you are much less likely to injure yourself because the weight hyper-extended something, or by hitting yourself. You would think then that it is a good tool for a beginner. But like I said earlier, it seems that someone who has never held a real sword or heavier stick, will not even get down or treat the foam as if it were a real stick. So in order to really get what you need out of the foam stick, it's almost like you have to be somewhat advanced mentally, if not physically, or at least exposed to metal swords and heavier sticks.