My mother always taught me that music is a great way to bring a family together. A great example of that was at Christmas time when we would all sit around the piano while my mother played Christmas carols while we all sang along. It was so much fun that it was one of my favorite memories from my childhood. Now that I am a mom, I want to make sure that my children have fun memories of making music with me. Since we don’t have a piano, not that I am very good at playing anyway, I thought we should make some instruments of our own.
One of my favorite household musical instruments is the cardboard tube from a roll of paper towels. There are many ways to make music with the tube including simply singing into the tube. The tube also works well as a drumstick or could even be turned into a guitar with addition of string and few more tubes.
Shakers are another easy instrument to make at home. Instead of throwing away old peanut butter jars or other small containers like yogurt cups, make them into shakers my adding small items to the inside before sealing. If you have little ones, be careful what you put into the containers and make sure they are completely sealed before handing them over. Make a few different kinds with different materials inside and talk with them about the different sounds each shaker makes. Making music at home can be fun and in expensive as well.
