You may not know it yet, but you probably have hundreds of musical instruments in your cupboards and on your shelves! Have you ever thought that a glass bottle, a yoghurt pot or even a straw could be used to play music?
Find out how to turn this childish idea into a fun and eco-friendly pastime to share with the whole family.
Maracas are one of the easiest musical instruments for children to make and play. Simply enclose a few seeds (rice, wheat, coffee, split peas, etc.) in a container (empty paper towel or toilet paper roll) and place aluminium foil or paper at each end to obtain a percussion instrument designed for little ones.
To personalise your maracas, organise a drawing workshop with your children and glue their creations onto the instruments.
Children love to bang on and with everything they can get their hands on. All (too) often, we end up opting for the pan and wooden spoon combo, much to the delight of our neighbourhood. So to keep the party going, but with a more melodious cacophony, here’s a short list of percussion instruments to make with your little ones:
An instrument that is easy to make, and sounds softer than certain percussion instruments! To make a beautiful pan flute, use different-coloured recyclable straws (bamboo or cardboard). To obtain different sounds from each straw, cut each tube at 1 centimetre intervals.
Stickers, felt tip pens or glitter… Let your little ones take care of the decoration. Finally, tie each straw together using string and tape.
To make your own rain stick, collect used and washed plastic yoghurt pots and cut holes in them. The number of pots will determine the size of your instrument. Attach them together in the following order: one upside down, one the right side up, and so on. Between the pots, glue a piece of cardboard with a hole in it, except for the first and last ones which will close your stick. Before you glue the end of the stick, fill it with wheat, lentils or rice seeds.