To make a water organ

• Fill the coffee jar half full with water.
• Dip the bottom end of the cardboard tube slightly into the water.
• Blow across the top.
• Listen!

When the tube is moved lower into the water, what happens to the sound?

Try making different notes and try playing a tune, for instance, Hot Cross Buns. Have a go at playing ‘Guess the tune?’

To make shakers

• Shakers can be made by filling plastic containers with a small amount of material.
• The important thing to remember is not to fill the container too much and to seal the lid well!

Try:

• Similar containers with different amounts of gravel
  
• Similar containers with different contents (e.g., rice, marbles)
  
• Different containers with similar amounts of salt.
  
• Different containers with different contents.
  
• Try to find words to describe the quality of the sound that the different instruments make.
  
• Would you choose the same shaker to keep the beat to two different songs (e.g., ‘BeidhAonach Amárach’ and ‘Óró mo Bháidín’)?

To make wind chimes

• Hang nails, pipes, pieces of glass, ceramics or shells from a rod (chair leg or broom handle), a triangular frame or circular frame in such a way that the pieces strike each other when they move.
• Alternatively, strike them using a metal or wooden beater.

Try to:

• Invent a tune on the nails
• Keeping the same rhythm pattern, play the tune on the pipes.
• Which instrument do you prefer? 

Assessment opportunities

Children can be observed working alone, in pairs or in groups. Their level of co-operation, interest, concentration and persistence can be noted during the process, their commitment to the end product, and creativity they bring to the making of the instruments and to their subsequent playing of them.

 Summary/follow-up

• Find out the names of other folk or orchestral instruments which produce sounds in a similar way to the instruments that have been made.
• How do the homemade instruments differ from the ‘professional’ ones?
  
• In what ways are they similar?