Links to Instruction Sheets

Wow, hard to believe it's been over 2 months since I started this assignment. I've had a lot of fun learning about musical instruments and ways to use them in the classroom, and I'm excited to use these crafts with my future students. Here's a list of quick links to find the instruments, click on the pictures to link directly to the instructions:

Rainstick:

Rhythm Sticks:

Drums:

Maracas:



Fruit Shaker:

Instructions for Drums

Drums

(Set up: 5 minutes, Duration: 20 minutes)

What is a drum?

A percussion instrument great for teaching students how to recognize and keep a steady beat.

You will need:

• A clean cylindrical container
• Electrical or masking tape
• Pencil (or 4 kebab sticks)
• Newspaper
• Construction paper cut to the size of the container
• Decorative tools (paints, stickers, felts, etc)
  

Instructions

1. Remove the lid from the container.

2. Criss-cross as many strips of electrical tape or masking tape over the top of the container until it is completely covered.

3. Wrap construction paper snugly around container and tape in place.

4. Decorate drum as desired.

5. Make a pair of drumsticks by crumbling a piece of newspaper on the end of pencil or 4 kebab sticks and spiral masking or electrical tape from the bottom of the pencil to the top of the tissue ball.

6. Try playing on the drum!

Instructions for Fruit Shaker

Fruit Shaker

(Set up: 30 minutes, Duration: at least 2-3 classes of 30 minutes each)

What is a fruit shaker?

A fruit shaker is like a maraca, except it is in the shape of fruit. Teachers can find songs with fruits in it and have the students shake the fruits whenever their fruit is mentioned. Ex: “I Like to Eat Apples and Bananas,” “Mango Fandango,” and “Shake, Shake, Shake Your Apples.”

You will need:

• vegetable spray or cooking oil
• pieces of fruit
• ½ cup rice or other filler (beans, popcorn kernels, etc)
• newspaper torn into small pieces
• paper mache mix
• acrylic paints and clear finish material (water-based Polyurethane is recommended)
• paint brushes
• disposable globes (optional, but keeps the mess down)

Paper Mache Mix

Mix equal parts boiling water and flour until mixture is smooth. Add a tsp of cinnamon for a nicer smell, and ½ tsp of salt to stop moulding.

Instructions

1. Put a thin coating of vegetable spray or oil on the piece of fruit.

2. Cover the fruit with paper mache. To do this, dip newspaper strips into paper mixture, removing excess by pulling paper between fingers.

3. Allow to dry for a couple of days.

4. Cut fruit in half with a serrated knife and remove fruit and skin.

5. Put rice or other filler in paper fruit and use small amount of masking tape to
seal halves together.

6. Repeat with several more layers of paper mache and again allow to dry.

7. Paint or decorate fruit as wished.

8. Seal with Polyurethane.

9. Enjoy making music!

Instructions for Rainsticks

Rainstick

(Set up: 5 minutes, Duration: 10-15 minutes)

What is a rainstick?

A rainstick is a percussion instrument that makes the sound

of falling rain when tilted. Historically, it was made from a hollowed out dried cactus branch filled with small pebbles. Tribesmen in Chile used it in ceremonies to bring rain.

You will need:

• Cardboard tube (paper towel or gift wrap roll)
• Nails (approximately 40)
• Dried rice
• Tape
• Large sheet of paper (fit to wrap around cardboard tube)
• Two small squares of fabric
• Two elastic bands
• Decorating tools (paints, stickers, felts, etc)

Instructions

1. With the help of an adult, carefully poke the nails into the cardboard tube so that only the nail head is visible from the outside.

2. Decorate the large sheet of paper however you l

ike. Be creative!

3. Wrap paper around cardboard tube, taping securely.

4. Cover one end of the tube with one piece of fabric and sec

ure with elastic band.

5. Fill the tube with about 2 cups of dried rice.

6. Cover the remaining end of tube with other piece of fabric and secure with the other elastic band.

7. Try slowly turning your rain stick from horizontal.

Alterations

If you are in a primary classroom and don’t have a lot of adult supervision, tin foil can be used instead of nails. Crush the tin foil into different sized balls and fill the cardboard tube until approximately 1.5 inches from the top.

I used a Pringles container instead of a cardboard tube. This works as well, except you need to use a hot glue gun to secure the cap.

Putting on the Teacher Hat

Darren (5) and Evan (2.5) working on their guitars.

This weekend I was able to actually try making musical instruments with a 5 year old and a 2.5 year old. It was interesting because I'd never made either instrument before, but it was fun. I had planned on doing rainsticks and drums, but both were dead set on making guitars, so I had to think on the fly. I was rather proud of myself because they turned out pretty cool. The kids absolutely loved them. I also tested out something I read in the comments section on the rainstick craft. I was worried about using nails with younger kids, and I saw someone mention using tin foil balls instead, so I tried both ways and it was really successful. The nails took more work, and you definitely need strength to get the nails in, but the boys really enjoyed making it. Tin foil was a lot easier because both

could help out, but their "fun vote" definitely went to the nails. They sounded nearly identical, which is neat.

Darren and Evan playing their guitars!

Overall notes:

Guitars would be a fun craft to suggest to make at home, but probably wouldn't do in class because it doesn't make very authentic sounds.

Rainmakers are fun to make, sound neat, and could be worked into a unit on weather. If I have an older class, then they can put their own nails in. If I have a younger class, then I'd most likely choose to use the tin foils balls instead.

Instructions for Rhythm Sticks

Rhythm Sticks

(Set up: 5 minutes, Duration: 10-15 minutes)

What is a rhythm stick?

A rhythm stick is a great percussion instrument that can be used to keep the beat by banging the sticks. If you rub the sticks together, it makes a sound similar to that of crickets.

You will need:

• 15-25 wooden barrel beads
• 2 wooden skewers
• White glue

Instructions

1. With the help of an adult, break off the pointy tip of the wooden skewers.

2. Rub a coat of glue on each skewer, leaving the bottom 4” without glue.

3. Push beads down the skewer until you reach the end of the glue.

4. Add more glue to the bead on the end.

5. Set aside to dry overnight.

Instructions for Maracas

Maracas

(Set up: 1 hour, Duration: at least 2-3 classes of 30 minutes each)

You will need:

• Balloon
• Beans
• Tape (painter’s tape works best)
• Toilet paper tube
• Flour
• Water (boiling)
• Newspaper (cut into strips)
• Decorating tools

Paper Mache Mix

Mix equal parts boiling water and flour until mixture is smooth. Add a tsp of cinnamon for a nicer smell, and ½ tsp of salt to stop moulding.

Instruction

1. With the help of a friend, use a funnel to put a handful of beans into the
balloon.

2. With the help of an adult, blow up the balloon and tie in a tight knot.

3. Take the toilet paper tube and cut strips about a thumb length long along the
top of the tube. Tape to the underside of the balloon.

4. Cover the balloon and toilet paper role with paper mache. To do this, dip newspaper strips into paper mache mixture, taking off extra mix, and then putting on balloon. May need to do several layers.

5. Set aside dry for 2-3 days.

6. Decorate with paint, stickers, markers, or construction paper

Supplies and drums...

I haven't been able to spend a ton of time on this project lately because school has been really busy. However, I've thought about it a little bit every day, deciding which ones to make, making supply lists and coercing friends into helping me. I spent about an hour and a half today buying supplies and getting things ready for making instruments on the weekend.

I have the stuff for rhythm sticks, drums (except containers), and rainsticks. I also have a group of friends that want to make stuff! I'm finding it super helpful to work with others, because it's another perspective on which way is best.

Drums: I've also been looking online for the past week trying to find an inexpensive way to make drums, because they're so much fun. I don't know why I had so much trouble finding one, but wikihow had a fairly cheap version. We'll see how well it works this week!

Wealth of Ideas!

I found an amazing website that has not only a wealth of ideas of instruments to make, but songs and activities to go along with them. I'm really excited that I found this, because it's given me some good ideas for this project.

Egg shaker: This website had a link to songs to use with the instruments, and I found an excellent one to use with the egg shakers. It will help students learn the body parts, while playing a musical instrument. If we were to do this craft shortly after Easter, I doubt I would have trouble getting donations of plastic eggs. A link to the song can be found here. (http://www.nancymusic.com/PRINThomemade2.htm )

Hoop Drum: excellent tool of introducing Aboriginal Culture into the classroom!

Tambourine: like the hoop drum, this would be an excellent tool to introduce another culture to the classroom.

Sand Blocks: This project would be fairly easy to do with K-2 classes but I'm not sure where I'd get the wood from. Perhaps a parent donation?

More Ideas

The more I look into crafts, the more excited I get about this project. I made maracas with classmates that are also making musical instruments. As we were making the crafts, we helped each other out a lot, and it was interesting to take a step back to notice the different teaching methods used. I found myself gaining more confidence as well, offering to help if someone needed it. There is a more detailed explanation of how the day went in an earlier entry.

But here are a bunch more crafts I found today:

Symbols: more simple craft, would be good to use in a kindergarten or grade one class.

Harmonica: I had no idea you could make a home made harmonica! It would probably be too expensive, but I'd like to look into it because I used to love playing the harmonica.

Pan flute: definitely need parent support for this one!

Making Maracas and Egg Shakers

3 fellow students and I got together today to make maracas and an egg shaker. I learned a lot about what I would and would not do in my class, and had fun doing it! Ittook us 3 hours to set up, do the craft, and clean up, which was a lot longer than I expected it to be. However, part of that was just figuring out the kinks. As we went along, we kept a list of things to remember when doing this with our class. Here are the important ones:

• cut strips of paper in a curve line. It helps to keep the papers straight on the balloon
• it's easiest to put the popcorn kernels/beans in with a partner, funnel, and steady hand!
• aprons - necessary evil if you want to protect your clothes
• keep the flour/water mixture hot and use lots of water. If it gets too thick or chunky, it takes longer to dry
• only do 1 or 2 layers at a time, otherwise it will be too weak
• if you don't allow the plaster to dry completely before painting, it may grow mold.
• have sheets with students names on them somewhere in the class before class starts so students have a way of telling which one is theirs
• don't put balloons with popcorn kernels in the oven so the paper mache dries quicker. Just think about it for a second
• be prepared for the student that takes an hour to finish, and the student that will take 5 minutes. Have more activities planned!
• the more hands cleaning, the better!

All in all, I think this is a great craft and I'd love to use it in my classroom. It's fairly cheap as many supplies can be brought from everyday supplies at home. It'd be interesting to see what other PLOs you could work into this kind of craft. Definitely worth looking into!

Week One

Just typing in "instruments to make in a classroom" into google has given me a ton of results! I didn't realize there were so many excellent projects out there. A lot of the ones I found I don't think would be appropriate however, as the supply list would be too expensive. The following three are my ones I could see myself making with students:

Maracas : I remember using these in my school, they were always my favourite instrument! It's mostly made out of things you have a home, old newspaper, flour, toilet paper rolls and then just decorative supplies.

Rainstick: This would be fun to use during a unit on weather! If I were to use them in my class, however, I'd make sure to put the nails in the tube before bringing them to the class.

Rhythm Sticks: I have a large package of old beads that I used to make beaded bracelets with, so this craft would be fun and inexpensive. They also apparently sound like crickets, so it could be used in a unit on bugs.

Introduction

Welcome to my musical instruments blog! As part of an assignment for school, I need to expand my musical knowledge. In this blog, I will compile a large list of homemade musical instruments and then chose the 5-7 instruments that I want to make. If you have randomly stumbled over this blog and want to know more, please email me at sbowles@uvic.ca