diy straw whistles {panpipes}

This was another one of our musical instrument activities to accompany The Listening Walk. I think the whistles were even more popular than the drums! Grab some straws and washi tape and try this at home!

For this project we used extra thick Boba straws in super happy colors, washi tape, and kiddo sized scissors. The children each cut two straws into two pieces and then arranged them from smallest to largest or as they kept saying smallest to tallest. I love the vivid colors of the straws coupled with the happiness of the tape. There are a few tutorials out there that involve taping up the bottoms of the straws or adding small holes to create different pitches. We did neither of those and still the children adored their whistles!

I mean. look at them! Soooo happy!

diy balloon {shaker} drums

 

We spent a week with the book The Listening Walk. We talked a lot about our senses especially our sense of hearing. So, for the week we set out to make as many musical instruments as possible (which wasn't that many but the heart and soul was there). Our first foray into instrument making was our balloon drum/shakers.

 

The children painted their cans first. We added a bit of soap to the paint to help it stick to the cans but that did not work too well so we had to add a coating of mod podge. The parts of the can that did not get mod podged flaked a lot. I'm thinking maybe some glue added to the paint will help. Tucking that into my cap for next year. After the cans dried (the next class day) the children did some scooping, pouring, dropping, and dumping of assorted noise-making elements such as popcorn kernals, dried beans, cut straws, and lentils.

 After selecting a balloon, we cut off the bottom and S T R E T C H E D the top portion over the cans (this part took a lot of help from me). We used these happy polka dotted balloons.

And then it was time to put on our rock n' roll mix and get to it! The children loved both shaking and playing their drums...they even asked if they could hold them for rest time. We had so much fun!