To do: Create your own musical instruments at home
Time: 15 minutes
Materials: Household items to make your own percussion instrument

Almost anything that makes noise could be your toddler’s new favorite instrument.

Try 1 of these 3 ideas for DIY instruments:

Jingle Bell Sticks: The sound of a bell is enticing, friendly, and cheery! You can customize these at home instruments for children of any age. Also, they are great fine motor practice! Here’s what you need:
– Small bells
– Short Dowel, stick, or pencil
– Pipe cleaner
– Tape

To start out, let your child wind the pipe cleaner around the stick or dowel. Every so often, thread a bell on the pipe cleaner, and keep winding around so the bell sits flush with the stick. Towards the end, help your child tighten up the pipe cleaner if needed. Secure the pipe cleaner at the top and bottom with a piece of tape, and voila, you have a jingle stick! Play along to any tune, anytime!

For younger children, use fewer bells, and bigger bells that aren’t a choking hazard. It could even be a dowel with one big bell on the end! Your toddler will love shaking it.

Bottle Cap Castanets: Castanets allow you to cheerfully play along to an upbeat tune or create your own rhythm! Great for the Copy Cat rhythm game from earlier in the week as well. Use these materials from around the house to create your own:
– A strip of cardboard, to be folded in half. Around 5 inch long by 1.5 inches wide, or your own specifications
– Two metal bottle caps
– Your preferred glue

If you’d like to decorate the outside of the castanets, do so now, then fold them in half. The decorated side should be on the outside. Then, glue the bottle caps on each end of the inside of the cardboard strip, jagged edge down. Try to get the caps to line up as much as possible for the best sound production. Now, once the glue dries, you can click the bottle caps together to make a little clicking sound!

Water Bottle Shaker: Do you ever find that you have a recycling bin overflowing with water bottles? Today, put them to use by making a homemade shaker! Here’s what you can use, but the sky is the limit:
– A water bottle, dry in the interior
– Bells small enough to fit through the opening
– Beads, again small enough to fit
– Sequins
– Ribbon

After arranging a few items on a tray, invite your child to make a shaker by adding items to their water bottle. Give an example with a bell. Put the cap on, shake the bottle and listen to the jingle! Next, tell your child anything in front of them is available to use. When your finished, tie a few pieces of ribbon around the opening of the bottle to make the shaker more festive. Shake along to your favorite song.

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