Make your own instruments

You can

Make trumpets, drums, rhythm sticks, shakers, rubber band guitars, or skittles.

To make shakers

You will need:

  • A plastic container or solid jar with a lid, or a small lidded tin.
  • Something to fill the container with. For example, pebbles, seeds, sand, marbles, beads, shells, buttons, twigs or acorns.

You can:

  • Half fill the container and secure the lid tightly and safely.
  • Shake to some music.

Try making these too:

  • Have a guessing game, guessing the song you are drumming.
  • Make shakers using papier-mâché.
  • Hammer metal or plastic bottle tops to a stick to make a vertical shaker.

To make drums

You will need:

  • Tins or containers of different sizes.
  • Wooden spoons, metal spoons, chopsticks.

You can:

  • Flip the tins over and go for it.
  • Encourage your child to decorate the tins using felts, paint or collage.

You can also:

  • Put a piece of paper tightly over the end of a cylinder and secure it with a rubber band or string.
  • Tap to make sounds with fingers, spoons, chopsticks or brushes and listen to the different sounds.
  • Try different sized cylinders.

Did you know

  • That making and playing instruments is a healthy and positive way to release energy.

What your child is learning

  • An appreciation and knowledge of music (eg: rhythm, volume, tune, timing etc).
  • Familiarity with different instruments and types of music.
  • Music is a way to express feelings.
  • Music is fun and adds value to an occasion.
  • Everybody can be a musician.