🥁 Homemade Instruments
Making instruments with children (or for children) is a wonderful activity in itself. These instruments are inexpensive, durable, and often sound better than many store-bought options. Consider organizing a craft party with 3–6 fellow caregivers to build a collection together!
Once you have instruments, see Songs for Rhythm Instruments and Story Sounds for how to use them.
Plastic Egg Shakers
Materials:
- • Plastic Easter eggs
- • Rice and/or barley for filling
- • Hot glue gun
Instructions:
Fill plastic eggs with rice or barley. Seal with a hot glue gun. Store in painted egg cartons. These are one of the most versatile and durable instruments you can make.
Paper Maché Fruit Shakers
Materials:
- • Fresh fruit (apple, orange, lemon)
- • Vegetable spray or cooking oil
- • Newspaper strips
- • Paste: 3 parts water to 1 part white glue
- • Rice for filling
- • Water-based polyurethane (to seal)
Instructions:
Spray fruit with oil, then cover with layers of newspaper strips dipped in paste. Let dry for several days. When hard, remove the fruit and fill with rice. Seal with water-based polyurethane. These look beautiful and last for years.
Noodle Sand Blocks
Materials:
- • Swimming noodles
- • Electric knife (recommended)
Instructions:
Cut swimming noodles into 3–4" pieces and halve them lengthwise. An electric knife gives the cleanest cut. When children rub them together, they create a very nice, quiet muffled clap — great for songs that need subtle accompaniment.
Jingle Sticks
Materials:
- • Six metal bottle caps per stick
- • Six-inch wooden dowels
- • Common nails (approx. 1¾" long)
- • Polyurethane (to coat dowel)
Instructions:
Coat each dowel with polyurethane and let dry. Hammer nails into the dowel and thread loosened bottle caps onto each nail. The bottle caps jingle when shaken.
African Tambourine
Materials:
- • 12" balloon
- • Newspaper strips
- • White glue and water (1 part glue to 3 parts water)
Instructions:
Inflate balloon. Cover with layers of newspaper strips dipped in glue mixture. Let dry completely. To play, hold in both hands with fingers up and twist wrists back and forth.
Juice Can Shakers
Materials:
- • Empty juice cans (e.g., Dole Pineapple)
- • Electrical tape in different colors
- • Rice or beans for filling
Instructions:
Fill can with rice or beans and seal. Wrap in colored electrical tape for decoration — great for color-recognition activities where children pick up the shaker matching the color you call out.
Jingle Bracelets
Materials:
- • Elastic ponytail holders or Chinese jump rope (one rope makes ~7 bracelets)
- • Jingle bells (4 per bracelet)
Instructions:
Tie 4 jingle bells onto each elastic band. Children wear these on their wrists or ankles for movement songs — they jingle with every gesture or step.
Quilting Hoop Drum
Materials:
- • 14" quilting hoop
- • Heat-shrink nylon fabric (dacron) — 17" square
- • Iron (nylon setting)
- • Contact: Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Co. 1-877-477-7823, Item #09-00500
Instructions:
Cut a 17" square of heat-shrink nylon. Stretch over the quilting hoop and iron on the nylon setting — the fabric will shrink drum-tight. The result is a lightweight, resonant hand drum.