Last week I shared a four calling birds craft as a part of the 12 Days of Christmas series I am participating in with a number of kid bloggers. This week I was given day 11. That is 11 pipers piping and we made cardboard flute to represent it. We have fun making homemade instruments for kids using everyday items.
Wait! There aren’t flutes mentioned in the 12 Days of Christmas. Are there? Well, no there are not. The 11th day of Christmas is supposed to be pipers piping. I just couldn’t come up with a way to make bagpipes! It fun to make homemade instruments for kids instruments that they can actually make music with rather than make a craft for.
The next best thing to make was a homemade musical instrument that is in the shape of a pipe. We have tons of paper towel rolls at my house, because we go through a ton of paper towels. I thought it would fit the 11th day theme.
I searched for directions on how to make a homemade instruments for kids that would actually make music and found a few. Some of them even used paper towel tubes! While they all had great directions, none was just what I wanted to make. You know what that means don’t you. The cardboard flute in this post has a slight twist to it.
Directions for Making the Flute
We started by cutting out a cardboard circle (plug) just about the size of the opening at the bottom of the cardboard tube. This was placed into the tube at the top. Then it was pushed into place with a plastic spoon.
Next the holes were placed in the tube. A rectangular whole was cut about six inches from the top of the tube with scissors. Then we used scissors to create round holes about an inch apart down the length of the cardboard tube. We ended up with a total of six round holes on our flute. (If you feel more comfortable making the holes for your children, you can make them for them.)
Once the body of the flute was created, it was time to decorate it. Since a child would be blowing over the top of the flute, I wanted to make sure that the paint was non-toxic. The art teacher at the school I teach at pointed me to a brand of acrylic paint that would be great for this project. She went on to suggest that we used gold paint to cover the tube. It would make the tube look like a real musical instrument. “It is a good idea to make homemade instruments for kids that are super safe for them to explore,” she told me.
I think adding a design to the body of the flute would be a great idea. We didn’t happen to do that. If you do, please use on non-toxic markers or paint near the areas your children might place their mouth. (As I mentioned before, you want your homemade instruments for kids to be safe.)
We found that our flute does make noises. They are not very musical, but they are fun to make.
More Homemade Instruments for Kids
Red Ted Art has a wonderful post on 10 Homemade instruments for kids you can make at home.
Imagination Tree made a really cool rain stick.
Make and Takes show you how to make a coffee can drum.
Welcome to day 4 of the 12 Days of Christmas Series, a kid-friendly activity to celebrate each of the 12 days! Be sure to stop by your 7 favorite bloggers for each of the 12 Days of Christmas Series. You will find amazing art projects for kids, cooking activities, learning fun and more.
Enchanted Homeschooling Mom ~ Stir the Wonder ~ JDaniel4’s Mom ~ 3 Dinosaurs ~ ABC Creative Learning
What kinds of homemade instruments for kids have you made?
These look like fun! I’ve never seen a flute made from cardboard tubes before – we’ll have to give it a try!
What fun! My oldest would love one; she really likes flute!