Whether you’re looking for activities to do with your toddler on a rainy day or they simply need a diversion so you can get some work done around the house, making homemade instruments is the perfect solution that can also foster within your child a love of music and the arts. Keep your little ones engaged and active with the following kid-friendly instruments made from items around the house.
How to make homemade instruments with household items
Let your toddler take the lead
Open-ended play, creativity, and imagination are the basis of play in the early years and for those who prefer a more free-range lifestyle for their children, concepts like process art and “loose parts” are highly encouraged. Loose parts are items that can be used to inspire children to create in their own way.
“Musical play often means hitting items as hard as possible to see how they sound, and loose parts offer almost limitless opportunities to explore sounds that can be exuberant, random, noisy, and chaotic or quiet, gentle, and focused,” wrote author Mirian Beloglovsky, in her book Loose Parts: Inspiring Play in Young Children
Consider an open-ended approach to music by incorporating loose parts. Have your toddler make homemade instruments born from their imagination. You can set out masking tape pre-cut into strips of varying lengths. Provide paper towel tubes, shells, sticks, river stones, rubber bands, balloons, and anything else you have around the house. Let their imaginations run wild.
This is where caregivers can take a step back and let the toddler take the lead. Allow them to name their instrument and teach you how it’s played. Then, have your toddler put on a quick living room recital to demonstrate their instrument.
“My girls take every chance they can to perform for us, or anyone who will watch for that matter. So they loved the idea of creating their very own instruments and putting together a special music show,” mom-blogger Mariah Leeson wrote on her site, Giggles Galore.
Incorporating more music into your toddler’s daily life is not only a great way to pass the time, but music also encourages cognitive growth and development and enhances executive function and self-regulation.
