Too hot to go out? Make an instrument!

Children love making things as much as they love music, so why not put the two together? Following are some ideas for making your own family band:

Guitar
Remove the lid or cut a hole in the lid of a shoe box. Stretch rubber bands across the box. If your little one really wants to jam, attach a ruler for the guitar arm.

Tambourine
Start with two heavy-duty paper plates. Facing each other, glue or staple the plates together. Punch holes around the outside of the plates and tie on jingle bells, metal washers, or whatever you can find.

Option two (safer for a younger toddler): Place your jingles on the inside of the plates before gluing together.

Shakers
Endless opportunities here! Start with a water bottle, paper plates as mentioned above, last year’s plastic Easter eggs, Tupperware, etc. What can you fill it with? Cheerios, dry beans, rice, etc. Let your child decide!

Drums
My favorite drums: Oatmeal canisters. Tupperware also works, along with hundreds of other empty canisters and containers. I was lucky enough to snag two huge cheese puff canisters from a camp this summer. Yes, they are still riding around in the trunk of my car, and the “bag boys” at Publix think I LOVE cheese puffs. I just couldn’t pass up a good drum or two!

Rain sticks
Cap the ends of paper towel tubes using paper and rubber bands. But first, fill with dry rice.

You’re not done yet!
Don’t forget to decorate your instruments. Stickers are always an easy choice when you don’t want to get out the markers, paint or glue. But who knows, maybe you’ll get fancy with yarn, ribbon, sequins, glitter and magazine pictures.

I’m not the craftiest person in the world, so write in your ideas. Or better yet, send me a picture! Above is a picture of some of my favorite preschoolers and their homemade instruments.