Homemade Musical Instruments for Kids: Make Your Own Marching Band!

There’s something magical about making music—and even more so when kids create their own homemade musical instruments. This week, we’ve been making music at our house and started our very own homemade marching band! Creating your own instruments is a fun and simple way to encourage creativity, develop motor skills, and explore sound and rhythm. Plus, it’s a fantastic hands-on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) activity that blends music, crafting, and early science concepts.

Whether you’re teaching a music unit, planning an at-home music day, or just need a rainy-day activity, here are several homemade musical instruments your kids will love. And if they break? No worries—they’re easy to replace with items you probably already have at home.

Why Make Homemade Musical Instruments?

Homemade instruments are more than just fun. They help kids:

• Explore sound, pitch, and vibration
• Develop rhythm and listening skills
• Improve hand-eye coordination
• Learn about the science of sound in a playful way
• Practice creativity and problem-solving

They’re also perfect for group play, pretend bands, and learning about musical expression in a low-pressure, high-fun environment.

Make a Homemade Guitar

• Materials: Empty tissue box, rubber bands, paper towel tube, tape, paint, stickers
• Instructions: Stretch rubber bands over the open tissue box to make the strings. Tape a paper towel tube to one end as the neck of the guitar. Let kids decorate it with paint or stickers.

Make a Homemade Kazoo

• Materials: Toilet paper or paper towel tube, wax paper, rubber band, optional markers

• Instructions: Cover one end of the tube with wax paper and secure with a rubber band. Poke a small hole in the side of the tube. Hum (not blow!) into the open end to make buzzing kazoo sounds.

Make Homemade Bead Drums

• Materials: Containers with lids, or cardboard beads, string, paper, glue
• Instructions: See my full tutorial for how to make bead drums that really rattle and shake. They’re great for fine motor skills, too!

More Homemade Instrument Ideas

• Water Xylophone – Fill jars or glasses with different amounts of water and tap with a spoon.
• Spoon Maracas – Fill a plastic egg with beans or rice and tape between two spoons.
• Straw Pan Flute – Cut straws of different lengths and tape them together side by side.
• Can Drum – Use an empty oatmeal container as a drum and tap with chopsticks.
• Bottle Cap Tambourine – String metal bottle caps on wire and attach to a cardboard circle.
• Slide Whistle: see my tutorial here.

Extend the Fun

• Play freeze dance using your homemade instruments.
• Try echo rhythms where kids copy simple beats.
• March around the house in your own pretend parade.
• Talk about dynamics (loud vs soft), tempo (fast vs slow), and rhythm patterns.

Making music doesn’t require fancy equipment—just a few creative ideas and a willingness to play. Grab your supplies and start your homemade band today!

Happy crafting and music-making!