Musical Instruments for Kids

Music as we know is an art form that has a power of healing, comforting and tying together all of humanity. Kids are curious learners, especially if they are exposed to new things in a creative or appealing way. Therefore, parents or teachers who want their children to inculcate the art of music always look out for some fun and interesting ways to teach music. Learning music or how to make musical instruments will not only give your child a better understanding of music, but will also enhance your child's creativity and artistic skills. Instead of wasting hours and hours watching TV, making musical instruments for toddlers or for children can be a fun activity which both parents and children can do together. This will help them to invest their time in something more productive and useful. Therefore, here are instructions for musical instruments for kids to make at home, which are simple and won't require much of your time and efforts.

Simple Musical Instruments

Pie Pan Tambourine
Materials Required:

• Foil pie pan
• Jingle bells
• File or hammer
• Yarn or string
• Nail

Procedure

With the help of a nail, punch holes in the edges of the foil pie pan. Smoothen the sharp edges of the hole with a file or hammer and then at each hole, tie a small jingle bell to the foil pie pan with yarn or string. Your pie pan tambourine is ready to give you a rhythmic adventure that won't be able to resist.

Cardboard Guitar
Materials Required:

• Cardboard appliance box
• Tempera paints
• Metallic felt-tip marker
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Paintbrush
• Glue
• Straight pin
• Duct tape
• Fishing line

Procedure

Sketch a life-size guitar on the long end of an appliance box; can be an acoustic guitar or an electric guitar shape. Draw around the neck of the guitar on the cardboard to create another neck, slightly longer than the original. Cut both pieces out, and stick the second neck to the back of the first neck with a glue. If you are making an acoustic guitar, make a hole in the body of the guitar, so that it appears like a real guitar. Paint the guitar with some psychedelic colors and if you desire you may add your name, logo or anything you like to it. As the paint dries, sketch frets (lines along the neck of the guitar) with the metallic felt-tip marker. Punch four holes for an electric guitar and six holes for an acoustic guitar at the top of the guitar and four or six holes at the bottom of the guitar with a nail. Measure the distance between the top holes and the bottom holes, add four inches to it and cut four or six pieces of fishing line of that same length. Thread a piece of fishing line through the front of a top hole, and attach the line down on the back of the guitar with the duct tape. Do the same for the bottom hole and repeat the entire procedure for the other holes and pieces of line.

Xylophone
Materials Required:

• Tall glasses or jars
• Water
• Mixing Spoon

Procedure

Fill the glasses or jars with different quantities of water; more water, lower the pitch and less water, higher the pitch. To play, gently strike the jars with the spoon and enjoy the music.

Drums
Materials Required:

• Empty oatmeal box with cover
• 2 pencils and a pen
• 2 spools
• Construction paper
• Crayons
• Yarn

Procedure

Decorate the oatmeal box with the construction paper and crayons to give a colorful bright look. Set the cover on the box and with a pen make a hole in the center of the cover and in the middle of the bottom of the box. Through these holes, extend a piece of yarn long enough to hang around child's neck and down to his/her waist. For the drumsticks, put the spools at the ends of the pencils, fix them with glue if required.

Making musical instruments for children is fun and can be done in different ways. Let your imagination soar while personalizing and decorating these musical instruments for kids. Once finished preparing these instruments, kids can put on a concert, have a marching band, play along their favorite songs or can just simply make their own music. Enjoy!