Instruments

The other day, my kids and I made some simple home made instruments. We put rice inside two paper plates and stapled them together (I'd recommend beans instead, the rice tended to sneak out.) We also put rice into a plastic cup and put another plastic cup over it--so that the two mouths? of the cups were together, and taped them together. Presto-chango, maracas instead!

Then I got out my violin and the kids and I had a hootenanny. (Isn't that a fun word? If you use it at least once a day, it makes life a lot funner.) I was surprised at how much the kids liked to shake their instruments while I played. Lucy, being the princess she is, would throw a temper tantrum every time I wasn't playing fast enough. And ho-boy, did she want me to play fast. If you are not an amazing violinist like myself (said with copious amounts of sarcasm), that's okay, you can just play the piano like my sister, who is amazing with no amounts of sarcasm at all. And if you can't play the piano, you could play the harp or the bazooka or the banjo or an mp3 or a CD if you have to. I was going to say something about trombones, but it wasn't appropriate for children, so I picked bazooka's instead. Because those are so much more appropriate. (Yes it's late. I know it's only 9:30, but for a mommy of three, that's late. Do you know my children woke me up more than ten times the other night?)

Anyway, play some music and shake and dance with your kids. By the way, you can also buy instruments from the store, if you prefer. They have some fun ones. Just remember--the louder they are, the more the kids love 'em. And your neighbors all love happy children, right?

Some other games you can play--stop the music every once in a while and your children have to stop too. Or else have a music parade. Give someone a baton, or a stick, and let them conduct. Play faster when they conduct faster, slower when they conduct slower. Stop when they do. And march around the house while you do it.

What other games can you play with musical instruments?