Make Your Own Instruments

Making simple homemade instruments is a fun and inexpensive activity. The trick is to be imaginative - literally any household object can be used to make a sound. Encourage your child to experiment with the following homemade instruments to see what different sounds they make.

Learning how to make homemade instruments is a process that requires a lot of practice unless it is just for fun. By using materials that are easily available at home or in the market, musical instruments can be made. Old pots and pans can be used as drums and old wooden spoons as drumsticks. A coconut cut in two, with the coconut meat removed, can be used as musical clappers. Old plastic drink bottles and containers filled with dried beans, dried corn, or rice can be used as bottle shakers. Glass bottle xylophones can be made at home by filling old glasses or bottles with different amount of colored water and using spoons or lead pencils to tap the containers to create a new musical tune. Old pieces of dowling cut into shorter sticks and painted can be used as rhythm or lumi sticks. Simply using an empty coffee can or oatmeal box painted or covered with contact paper can be used as drums. Stringing three to four bells onto a large pipe cleaner can make wrist bells. This pipe cleaner can be twisted around the wrist.

These homemade musical instruments can be left plain or decorated. Musical instruments can be decorated with a combination of buttons and glitter or sequins and yarn. Materials such as ribbons, beads, sand, cellophane, crayons, markers, paint, nail polish, construction paper etc are other decorative items. Hence, making musical instruments at home is a fairly simple and enjoyable activity but requires some amount of creativity.