Little Music Makers: Make a Christmas Tambourine
It’s the holiday season and we’re feeling the itch to get crafty and make something special! Christmas songs like Jingle Bells are already playing in shopping malls, stores and cafes, and so we thought, why not let’s make our very own snowflake tambourine that jingles? We were excited about the idea and got to it right away! Making your own snowflake tambourine is simple to make and it’s perfect for parent-child bonding time!
The materials needed include:
2 paper plates
White glue
Hole puncher
Strings
Bells
Scissors
2 cut-outs of a snowflake image we’ve provided (at the bottom of this article)
Colour pencils, markers, decorative materials
Simply follow the steps below and you’re on your way to making your very own instrument!
1. Cut out the snowflake images by following the black lines. When that’s done, stick them onto the back of each paper plate.
2. Unleash you and your child’s creativity by decorating the back of the paper plates with your colour pencils and markers! Up the glitz factor with glitter glue, shiny stickers and watch your tambourine shimmer and shine as you play on it!
3. Punch 8 holes around the rim of one of the paper plate using your hole puncher. If you want to have more bells on the tambourine, go ahead and punch more holes! Put the two plates together with their backs facing out and create markings on the second paper plate through the holes on the first paper plate. This is to get the correct positions of the holes such that the two plates align with each other perfectly! When you’ve done the markings, punch the holes through the second paper plate.
4. Align the plates with the backs facing out and make sure that the holes are aligned. Glue or tape the plates together!
5. Next, take a piece of string and put it through the hole of the bell, as well as the hole on the paper plates. Tie a knot and ensure that the bell does not fall off easily. Repeat this for all the 8 holes and try it with different bell sizes like we did!
Now, you’re ready to jingle with this homemade snowflake tambourine! Just tap the tambourine against your hand like how you would with a normal tambourine. Let your child play this instrument along with songs that you let him or her listen at home. And since it is a Christmas-themed tambourine, here are some Christmas songs that you and your little one can play the tambourine to. Just click on the song titles!
Learning Objectives
Learning to play your instrument:
Fast / Slow
High (towards the sky) / Low (near the ground)
Right / Left
Click on the snowflake images below (choose any one or you could choose both!) and download to print and cut it out.
Practice is a trill!
Love,
My Piano Room
(insert JPEG)
