Handmade Instruments for Preschoolers | Instruments You Can Make Together with Your Child
When children make their own instruments to play rhythm games or perform to music, it fosters their sense of rhythm and pitch, as well as their imagination and expressive abilities, bringing very positive effects to their development.
So this time, we’re introducing handmade instrument ideas you can use in daycare, kindergarten, or at home.
From simple projects you can make with recycled materials or items from the dollar store to more advanced creations based on the principles of real instruments, we’ve gathered a wide range of DIY instrument ideas!
Find projects that match your child’s age and developmental stage, and try making them together.
We hope you’ll enjoy a fun time exploring the unique sounds that these handmade instruments can produce!
- [Childcare] Enjoy handmade tambourines with the children
- Handmade instruments with plastic bottles: try making flutes, percussion, and traditional ethnic instruments.
- [Childcare] Easy to make! Handmade toys that delight 0-year-olds
- Craft activity ideas that parents and children can enjoy together during a preschool observation day
- Paper cup crafts that elementary school kids will love! A collection of fun project ideas
- [Nursery/Kindergarten] Crafts you can play with after making them
- Craft ideas using plastic bottle caps [for boys]
- Make it with everyday materials! A collection of DIY toy ideas recommended for 1-year-olds
- Recommended songs for eurhythmics. Let's enjoy music using our bodies!
- Recommended for 5-year-olds! Simple DIY toy ideas
- By Age: Enjoy Music with Instrument Play! Plus DIY Instrument Ideas
- [Childcare] Recommended for toddlers! Toy ideas you can make and play with
- [Childcare] Fun Rhythm Play! Recommended Games and Hand-Clapping/Hand-Play for Kids
Handmade Instruments for Preschoolers | Instruments You Can Make with Your Child (11–20)
ocean drum
An instrument that plays the sound of waves: the ocean drum.
It’s a real instrument used for sound effects in films and anime, and it can produce the sound of rippling waves.
The truth is, this ocean drum is a simple instrument you can easily make at home.
Just put BB pellets into a container like a file case or a plastic bottle, and it’s ready to go.
You don’t even need scissors, so as long as you have the materials, it’s easy to make.
By changing what you put inside and the type of container, you can create a variety of wave sounds—so give it a try!
paper plate castanets
@welbe.co.jp Easy Craft Series: Paper Plate Castanets#NeurodevelopmentalDisordersParenting# developmental support (ryōiku)Habi
Akuma Night Disco (feat. Nozomi Sato) – The Ghost's Strange Tale
This is a sound-play item that you can easily make with familiar materials.
First, fold a paper plate in half and attach a plastic bottle cap.
Make a hole in the middle of the fold, thread a rubber band through it, and tie it so it won’t come out.
Decorate it, and you’re done! When you tap it lightly, it produces a fun sound that helps develop hand movement and a sense of rhythm.
By varying the volume and rhythm, it can also boost concentration and promote emotional stability.
The time spent making it with your child becomes a wonderful opportunity for communication filled with smiles.
Be sure to include it in your playtime with your child.
Tambourine made from everyday items
Here are some ideas for making a tambourine from everyday items.
A tambourine is an instrument with bells or small cymbals attached around a metal rim, with skin stretched over one side.
How about making a tambourine using familiar materials found at home or in a preschool? You can substitute the skin with plastic sheeting or construction paper, and use a ring toss hoop or a cut-out paper plate for the rim.
If you brainstorm with the children, you’ll likely come up with lots of fun ideas! Give it a try.
Milk Carton Tambourine
How about making a tambourine by reusing an everyday material—a milk carton? It’s easy to make and costs nothing, so it’s highly recommended! Cut the milk carton into strips and form triangles, then combine six of them into a hexagon and glue them together.
Cover the outside with colored construction paper of your choice, and feel free to decorate it by drawing pictures or adding stickers.
To finish, punch holes along the edge and attach small bells—done! Since this craft has relatively many steps, it’s best for the teacher to prepare it in advance and then play with the children together.
Tambourine of Box and Bell
Let me introduce an idea for a tambourine made with a box and bells.
You’ll need a round box, masking tape, wire, an awl, decorative origami paper, double-sided tape, and scissors.
Using sparkly origami or decorating with cutouts of your favorite motifs will really lift the mood! Divide up the tasks with the kids and make the tambourine together.
It’s safest for a parent or teacher to handle the step of punching holes in the container with the awl.
Enjoy making music with your very own original tambourine!
Handmade tambourine using 100-yen shop materials
Make it with a one-year-old! Here are ideas for handmade tambourines using materials you can get at a 100-yen shop.
What you’ll need: paper plates, washi tape, air-dry clay, disposable chopsticks, bells, and stickers.
Let’s create handmade instruments together with one-year-old children! The finished instruments can be tambourines or drums, and the charm is that each child can play freely.
It’s adorable to see children freely perform to music with their own original instruments, decorated by cheerfully sticking on stickers.
Handmade Instruments for Preschoolers | Instruments You Can Make Together as a Parent and Child (21–30)
tambourine maracas
Let’s make an original instrument! Here are ideas for a tambourine-maracas combo.
You’ll need deep paper plates, double-sided tape or craft glue, jingle bells, ribbons, masking tape, felt, sequins, and other decorative materials.
How about creating your very own instrument with a free imagination? It looks like a tambourine, can be shaken like maracas, and even played like a drum.
This kind of engaging craft nurtures children’s imagination.
Give it a try!