How can I use this with my children?

Simply print the instructions, prepare your

recycled materials and have a great time
Parent Guide
making your own instruments. Perfect for
a sunny or rainy summer day.

How does this help my children’s learning?

Easy-to-follow instructions and

household equipment means these
musical instruments are a great way
to entertain little ones over summer,
while developing fine motor skills and
creativity.

Ideas for further learning:

Why not make the full set and start a

band with family or friends? You could
write your own song and perform it -
Karaoke style - using your homemade
instruments at a summer BBQ.
Make Your Own Musical Instruments
Stuck for something to do over the summer? Spend the day making your
own musical instruments from recycled materials and items you can
find around the house. Make the full set and perform a song using your
instruments at a summer BBQ.

Contents
• DIY Hand Drums
• Paper Plate Tambourine
• Rainmaker
• Straw Pan Flutes
• Spoon Maracas

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 DIY Hand Drums
You will need:

• empty ribbon spools (can easily • ribbon

be found with wrapping paper or
• beads
in a craft shop)
• card
• paper straws
optional: decorative tape,
• glue gun or craft glue
ribbon, felt-tip pens, colouring
• scissors pencils, etc.

Instructions:
1. First, turn your empty ribbon spool on its side and make a hole in the
bottom (where the ribbon would have been wrapped round). This is
where the straw handle will go.
2. Slide your straw into the hole. You may need to use some glue or a glue
gun to secure it.
3. Make two holes at the side of your spool. This is where the beads will
go.
4. Cut two pieces of ribbon approximately six inches long. You may need
to experiment with the length here to make sure it is right for your
instrument.
5. Tie a knot in one end of a piece of ribbon. Use glue or a glue gun to help
you feed this into the holes that you created and secure it in place.
6. Repeat for the other piece of ribbon.
7. Thread a bead onto the end of the ribbon and tie a knot to secure it in
place. Do this for both pieces of ribbon.
8. Draw round the empty spools onto a piece of card (you choose the
colour).

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9. Repeat for the other side.
10. Decorate the circles. You could use decorative tape, colour, patterns,
ribbon, etc.
11. Glue the circles onto each side of the empty spool.
12. Let it all dry, then make some music!
Twinkl Tip:
It can be worth taking time with your ribbon lengths to make sure that,
when you play, the beads hit the drum properly.

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 Paper Plate Tambourine
You will need:

• paper plate • thin ribbon or string

• optional: washable paint, felt- • small bells (can be found
tip pens, colouring pencils, other in craft shops)
decorative items • optional: cotton balls
• pencil • craft glue or glue gun
• hole punch • clothes pegs

Instructions:
1. First, paint or decorate the bottom of your paper plate. You can use
paint, felt-tip pens or colouring pencils and add any extra details to
your tambourine.
2. Once your plate is ready (don’t forget to let paint dry, if using), fold it
in half so that your decoration is on the outside.
3. Use a pencil to mark where you are going to put the bells around the
rim. You can decide how many bells to add but around 6 - 8 works well.
4. Punch a hole over each of your pencil marks, through both sides of the
plate.
5. Cut some short pieces of ribbon or string.
6. Thread a bell onto each piece of ribbon or string.
7. Thread each one through a hole and tie a knot to secure it. Don’t tie
them too tight as they need to be able to jingle!
8. Repeat this for each of your bells. You should find that once they are all
tied, your tambourine holds together nicely.
9. Optional step: If you would like to make your tambourine a bit thicker,
stuff it with cotton wool balls through the gaps.

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10. Put a line of glue along the arc of your plate and use clothes pegs to
hold it together until it dries shut.
11. Now, make some funky music!
Twinkl Tip:
Paint rainbow stripes around your whole plate and then, when you fold
it, you will have rainbow arcs for a lovely summery feel!

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 Rainmaker
You will need:
• poster tube or cardboard tube • paper
from foil, cling film or kitchen • rice or dried beans
roll (longer than a toilet roll
• optional: paint,
works better)
felt-tip pens, other
• sticky tape decorative items
This first part depends on whether you are using a poster
tube or recycled cardboard roll.
Poster tube:
1. Secure one lid/end of the roll with sticky tape.
2. Add your rice or beans.
3. Secure the other end with sticky tape.
4. Decorate!
Recycled cardboard roll:
1. Begin by drawing a paper circle that is slightly bigger than the circle
end of your tube.
2. Cut this out and secure it to one end using sticky tape. Alternatively,
you could try using cling film or foil here, securing it with sticky tape.
3. Add your rice or beans.
4. Add a paper circle (or cling film/foil) to the other end of the tube and
secure it with sticky tape.
5. Decorate!
Twinkl Tip:
Rice and different sizes of beans can make a variety of sounds. Why
not create a few rainmakers to experiment with different sounds? You
could also have a play around with the amount of rice or beans in your
rainmaker to see how the sound is affected.

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 Straw Pan Flutes
You will need:
• paper straws • glue
• ruler • string/ribbon
• scissors • sticky tape
Instructions:

1. You will need between 12 and 15 paper straws depending

on how big you want your pan pipes to be.
2. Cut the first straw to 10cm long.
3. Add approximately ½ cm each each time you cut.
So the second straw will be 10 ½ cm, the next 11cm and so on. This
doesn’t have to be really precise but it will look neater and is a great
opportunity to practise measuring!
4. Keep going until you have around 12 - 15 straws cut.
5. Line them up in order from smallest to largest so that one end of each
straw is in line (the other end will gradually get longer).
6. One at a time, glue the straws together. Glue straw 2 to straw 1. Then
glue straw 3 to straw 2 and so on. Depending on what glue you are
using, you may need to wait for some to dry before gluing the next.
7. Cut a length of string long enough to attach to each side of your pan
flute and hang around your neck.
8. Use glue or sticky tape to attach the string.
9. Ideally, wrap a piece of sticky tape or masking tape around all of the
straws once to keep it a bit more secure.
10. Now, you can add some funky decorations. Add feathers on strings,
decorative tape or keep it simple!
11. Blow into your pan pipes and see what sounds you can create!

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 Twinkl Tip:
You can experiment with how many straws and the length of the straws
to create different sounds. These can look really funky just by choosing
some cool paper straws with patterns on.

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 Spoon Maracas
You will need:
• 2 plastic spoons • sticky tape

• plastic egg (remove chocolate • scissors

first if it’s in there) • optional: decorative items
• rice

Instructions:
1. Open up your plastic egg and make sure there is nothing inside.

2. Add some rice (or you can use dried beans). Make sure there is plenty of
space for your rice or beans to move around inside.

3. Close your plastic egg and secure it with sticky tape.

4. Place your plastic egg inside the dip of two spoons so that it sits nicely
between the two spoons.

5. Wrap it with sticky tape. You may need an extra pair of hands for this
as it can be fiddly!

6. Wrap tape around the handles of the spoons to secure them together.

7. Decorate if you wish.

8. Play some funky tunes with your DIY maracas!

Twinkl Tip:
Like the rainmaker, you could experiment with rice and different size of
beans to see what the difference in sound is.

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We hope you find the information on our website and resources useful. The activities set out in this resource are potentially hazardous. The activities
are not suitable for all children and adult supervision may be required for some of the activities. It is your responsibility to assess whether the children
in your care are able to safely carry out the activities and whether the children require adult supervision. You are responsible for carrying out proper risk
assessments on the activities and for ensuring that activities can be carried out safely. We are not responsible for the health and safety of your group
or environment so, insofar as it is possible under the law, we cannot accept liability for any loss suffered by anyone undertaking the activity or activities
referred to or described in this resource. It is also your responsibility to ensure that those participating in the activity are fit enough to do so and that you or
the organisation you are organising for has the relevant insurance to carry out the physical activity. If you are unsure in any way, we recommend that you
take guidance from a suitably qualified professional.

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