Music Activities for Kids

Water Xylophone

You will need: 

• drinking glasses
• water
• food coloring
• spoon

1. Fill drinking glasses with different amounts of water and add a different food coloring to each glass.
2. Ask your child to lightly tap the glasses with a spoon. Notice the different sounds each glass makes.
3. Try to play simple tunes, or make up your own melodies as you play.

 

 Match the Sounds

You will need: 

• pennies
• buttons
• beads
• cut up straws
• dry beans

1. Put different items into plastic eggs, then let the kids shake them and guess what is inside.

2. Crack the eggs open to reveal what is inside.

3.Close the eggs back and shake them again to see what the kids remember.

 

Percussion Shaker

You will need: 

• Plastic lint roller handle 
• small beads or dry beans (we cut beads from bead necklaces)
• plastic glue
• shopstick or small peg
• decorative duct tape

1. Make a small hole in the top center of the large end of the lint roller. Push the beads or dry beans into the cylinder.

2. Cut a tip off of the chopstick. Then put a dab of glue over the filling hole, stick the chopstick tip into the hole, and put another tiny dab of glue over it.

3. Glue the decorative duct tape around the cylinder.

Have fun! Cha-cha-cha!

 

 

Rain Stick

You will need:

• a sturdy cardboard paper tube about 12 – 24 inches long x 1-1/2 inches wide
• tin foil about 1 1/2 times longer than your tube 
• duct tape
• uncooked rice

1. Tear off a piece of tinfoil at least 1-1/2 times longer than your tube and scrunch it up length-wise until it is about 1/2” in diameter.  About every 3 inches, make a fold or kink in the long piece of tinfoil so it is all zigzaggy.
2. Put this inside your tube and fasten it at one end. Cover the end by gluing the cap in place, or duct tape it closed.
3. Tape the other end of the tinfoil at the top opening.  It should be zigzaggy up to the top.
4. Place about 1/2 a cup of rice inside and cover the end temporarily.  Do you like the sound?  Adjust with more or less rice until you like its sound as it drops and hits the tin-foil all the way down to the bottom.
5. Cover the other end with a cap or duct tape.
6. Paint the tube and use markers or stickers to decorate it.
7. When playing your rain stick, hold it so that it is at an angle and tip it slowly so the sound will last a long time.  Tip it the other way to keep the sound going.

 

Sound Amplifier

You will need: 

Balloon

Experiment with a balloon, compressed air and your own ears to increase the sound.

Instructions:

1. Blow up the balloon.

2. Hold the balloon close to your ear while tapping lightly on the other side.

Despite you only tapping lightly on the balloon your ears can hear the noise loudly. When you blew up the balloon you forced the air molecules inside the balloon closer to each other. Because the air molecules inside the balloon are closer together, they become a better conductor of sound waves than the ordinary air around you.

 

Tambourine

You will need:

• Sturdy plastic or paper plates. Bright colors are fun! 
• dried beans or macaroni
• craft glue
• markers or paints and/or stickers
• hole punch
• yarn or ribbon

Instructions: 
1. Decorate the tambourine by painting or drawing on the bottom of the plate. Let it dry.
2. Place about 2 tablespoons of beans or macaroni in the bottom of a plate. Put glue around the rim of the plate.
3. Gently place a second plate on top and squeeze lightly around the rim. Allow it to dry.
4. Use a hole punch and make 6 to 8 holes around the rim. This can be very difficult for small hands, so parents will need to help. Thread ribbon or yarn through the holes and tie into knots. Curl ribbon!
5. Tap and shake your tambourine in time to the music. Have a fun time jamming with the family!