Handmade instruments with plastic bottles: try making flutes, percussion, and traditional ethnic instruments.

Editor-in-Chief, RAG MUSICHane Keisuke
Editor-in-chief of RAG MUSIC. JFC-certified fact-checker. After working in a music studio and handling wedding sound, joined the RAG MUSIC editorial team in 2016. Experienced with a variety of instruments: marching band in elementary school, clarinet in junior high school wind ensemble, and drums in a band from high school onward. Drawing on my own musical activities and the experience gained through my work, I produce daily articles, including various song introductions, features on music festivals around the country, and live reports. In music, I enjoy not only rock from Japan and abroad but, lately, a wide range of J-pop as well.

Plastic bottles really come in handy when you’re making DIY projects, like those for summer vacation.

Kendama and pinwheels are classics, but you can actually make impressive musical instruments using plastic bottles, too!

In this article, we’ll introduce instruments that use the bottle itself, as well as ones that use the caps.

By combining them with items like straws and paper plates, you can create flutes, percussion instruments, and even unique folk instruments—so take inspiration from the ideas we’re about to share and try making them yourself!

Handmade instruments with plastic bottles: Try making flutes, percussion, and folk instruments (11–20)

Kachikachi Animal

Pull the ears and it makes a sound! Here’s an idea for click-clack animals.

You’ll need a kraft paper cup, a pen, two plastic bottle caps, scissors, and tape.

First, leaving 1.5 cm at the top, make four evenly spaced cuts in the paper cup.

Fold two of the cut sections and trim them with scissors to create ears.

Attach the plastic bottle caps with tape to the sections you didn’t fold—and you’re done.

Draw your favorite animal and make some noise!

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In conclusion

We introduced a whole range of handmade instruments you can make using plastic bottles.

They ranged from very simple ones to more elaborate, satisfying projects.

Some of them also have a deep appeal as instruments—you can play them impressively if you practice a lot.

So take this opportunity to make your own and give it a try!