You don't need to buy expensive instruments to give a toddler a real music experience. Here are 10 instruments you can make in under 15 minutes with things you already have at home.
10 Easy DIY Instrument Projects
- •Rice shaker — empty water bottle filled with rice, taped shut
- •Drum — overturned pot or empty oatmeal container
- •Pan flute — drinking straws cut to different lengths and taped together
- •Rubber band guitar — empty tissue box with rubber bands stretched across
- •Tambourine — two paper plates with bells inside, stapled around the edge
- •Kazoo — toilet paper tube with wax paper rubber-banded on one end
- •Maracas — plastic eggs filled with beans and taped to plastic spoons
- •Triangle — metal coat hanger struck with a metal spoon
- •Bottle xylophone — glass bottles or jars filled with different water levels
- •Cymbals — two pot lids
Why DIY Instruments Are Educational
Building the instrument is itself a learning experience — toddlers learn that sound comes from vibration, that different sizes produce different pitches, and that music is something they can make rather than only consume.