Homemade Guitar Craft
Make a cardboard guitar with your rock star kid!
Submitted by
Kayla Chong
Kayla Chong
Let your kid reenact Wayne's World in your basement without forking over cool cash for a real guitar. Craft his own guitar by stretching rubber bands over a recycled shoebox or small container and let him rock out! It's no Stratocaster, but it's a start. "Party time! Excellent!"
- Small Plastic Container or Adult-Size Shoebox:Use a shoebox for older kids. For little ones, use a small plastic container to make a simpler guitar (see "Tips").
- Six Rubber Bands:Pick rubber bands with different widths to make different sounds.
- Tape
- Coffee Cup
- Pen or Pencil
- Scissors
- Paper-Towel Tube
- Glitter, Stickers, Paint, Paintbrush
- Rocker Outfit:Ripped jeans, cool T and a wig (for rock star hair, of course). These are all optional, but wouldn't you rather rock out in those digs than your polo shirt and khakis?
Find a shoebox (or even a boot box, which would make a great bass for a junior jazz musician)
Have your child paint the shoebox and paper-towel tube a funky, rockin' color. He can jazz it up with glitter or stickers as well.
Have your child draw a large circle onto the top of the shoebox lid by placing a coffee cup upside down on the lid and tracing its rim. The hole should be centered about 2 inches from the edge of one side of the lid.
Help him carefully cut out the circle.
Have your kid tape the lid to the base of the box.
Stretch the six rubber bands lengthwise around the box. Different sounds will be made by rubber bands of varying thicknesses. Thick strings take longer to move because they are heavier, so they will vibrate at a slower rate and make a lower sound. Thinner rubber bands will vibrate faster and make a higher-pitch noise.
Slip a pen or pencil under the rubber bands in the two-inch space between the hole and the edge of the shoebox lid to elevate the rubber bands off of the box a little.
Help your child cut a paper towel roll-sized hole in the top of the box and insert the roll to make a guitar neck. Use some tape to secure it if it seems a little wobbly.
Have your kid throw on his rocker outfit, grab his guitar and ROCK OUT! Mom and Dad can cheer him on as adoring groupies (isn't that the role you've played since the day he was born anyway?).
- To make a simple version of a rubber band guitar for younger children, just loop six rubber bands around a coffee can, a deli container or any small plastic container and pluck!
- Or create a whole makeshift band with help from Nick Jr's Make Your Own Musical Instruments instructions.
add your comment
send me an email when someone else replies
Submit!
comments
