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Music Projects for Kids

Making your own musical instruments using traditional and modern materials allows children to develop and maintain small motor skills, express their creativity and explore other cultures through their music and crafts. Children can also examine the ecology and economy of each region through its traditional instruments. Children can study the effects of habitat destruction, excessive harvests, plant diseases and the disappearance of pollinators on the various plants and animals used to make traditional musical instruments.

Rain Sticks
- Dried, hollowed quisco cactus is used to make genuine rain sticks.
  
  Genuine rain sticks are made from dried "quisco," or Echinopsis chiloensis, a cactus from the Andes mountains of Chile, according to world music website Gandharva Loka, but you can use 2-inch diameter PVC pipe with end caps. An adult helper will have to apply PVC cement around one end of the PVC pipe and inside one end cap. Allow it to dry overnight after capping the tube.
  
  Have the children make a dot pattern along the PVC pipe from end to end. The children can put the PVC pipe in a bench vise with supervision, but they must clear the area while an adult drills a 1/16-inch diameter hole through each dot. Use flat-head screwdrivers to drive 1-inch long, 1/8-inch diameter brass wood screws through each hole. The screws represent the quisco thorns, which are driven into the cactus before it is filled with lava pebbles and capped.
  
  Children fill the rain stick with jingle bells, gravel, dried beans, beads, buttons or small shells before an adult caps the rain stick. Give the children acrylic paints, feathers and twine to decorate their rain sticks as desired.
Gourd Maracas
- Senior Citizens Magazine suggests placing ornamental gourds in the sun to dry if you want to make maracas with your grandchildren. Dipper, Maranka or other long-neck gourds will work best, because they will not need an added handle. Turn the gourds daily as they dry to prevent mold formation, and shake them to ensure that the seeds loosen. After the gourds are completely dry, scrub them gently with a polyester fiber pot scrubber before decorating them.
  
  Drill a hole into the gourd to add beans, beads, stones or shells if you want a louder sound. Cut a piece from another gourd to glue over the hole before you sand the edges smooth. Decorate your maracas with acrylic paints. Allow your designs to dry overnight before you apply three to five coats of clear acrylic sealant to your maracas.
Tuneful Bottles
- Recycle 20-ounce soda or water bottles into a wind instruments by filling them to different levels to produce the seven notes on the musical scale. According to Family Fun, you will need 7 ounces for Do or middle C, 9.5 for Re or D, 12.5 for Mi or E, 14 for Fa or F, 16.5 for Sol or G, 17.5 for La or A, 18.5 for Ti or B and 19 for Do or High C. Play songs by blowing gently across the mouth of each bottle. To play chords, which are combination notes, have three to five people play different notes together. The Free Online Piano Lessons website explains which notes to combine. (Resource 4)

Childrens Toys