Sesame Street Activity of the Week: Make Your Own Instruments

Rosemarie Truglio, PhD. Senior Vice President, Curriculum & Content, Sesame Workshop.

Skills focus: Healthy Exercise

Singing and moving to your child’s favorite songs is a great way to turn frowns, frustration, and fussiness into smiles and laughter — all while getting some much-needed indoor exercise!

Add to the fun with homemade musical instruments. Common household objects can make the most wonderful musical instruments: an empty tissue box and a few rubber bands turns into a guitar; empty oatmeal tubs, plastic containers, and sand pails become drums with wooden-spoon drumsticks. Try some the other ideas below, and put on a family concert:

• Wind instruments — A long cardboard tube from a roll of wrapping paper can turn into a pretend clarinet.
• Jingle bells — Pipe cleaners woven through the loops of holiday jingle bells can be shaped into bracelet-sized circles to shake.
• Shakers — Plastic bottles with caps can become shakers. Wash them well, peel off any labels, and fill them with small toys or crayons.

These are stressful days for families everywhere, and Sesame Workshop is here to help. With 50 years’ experience in early childhood education and in helping children and their caregivers face challenging times, we’ve created an online hub of resources that parents can use at home to spark playful learning, offer children comfort, and focus a bit on self-care, too. Each week, as we roll out new content, a Sesame Workshop early childhood development expert will contribute a column here with strategies to help families find ways to breathe, laugh, and play together.