Are your kids bored? Form your own rock band!
With the school holidays almost upon us, you might wonder how on earth you’re going to keep your kids busy for six weeks. You will undoubtedly hear the words ‘I’m bored’ in the near future. A great thing to do is to form your own rock band – not an ordinary one with ready-made musical instruments – you can go one better: form a band by using stones, small tins and holders. Literally: a ‘rock’ band.
We saw this idea on the fantastic funandlearning.com website when we surfed the internet to look for ideas to combat boredom.
Collect the stones and small holders or tins
Let everyone join in to collect the differently stone shapes, types and sizes. Do the same with various little holders, boxes and tins. It’s great fun if you can find small holders, boxes or tins that are made of different types of materials. Make quite sure that the holders close properly with a decent lid.
Each child can then choose a box, holder or tin and a stone. Ask everyone to be very quiet and listen to the sound as each child drops his or her stone in the holder. Talk about the sound you hear. Then let the kids experiment with the different stones, boxes, holders and tins. How do the sounds differ from one another? Which sound do they like the most? What does it sound like if you drop or pour several small stones consecutively in a box or a tin (gravel, for example)?
Form you own rock band
Now that the children have explored all the sounds, you’re ready to form a real band! Each child may choose 1 box or tin as an instrument. They can then fill it with their favourite stones. Be sure to close the holder properly with a lid (it might be a good idea not to choose glass for health and safety reasons ;)). And then let them really start making music as a rock band would.
Let the kids experiment with the different sounds, boxes, tins and holders. You’ll notice that this might produce some good beats after a while, once they get the hang of it.
Do you have any tips for other music lovers on how you can enjoy making music together with your kids? It would be great if you could let us know too!