Homemade Instruments: Tambourines

These homemade paper plate tambourines are an incredibly versatile craft. You can use plates that already sport a fun design, or plain white plates that can be colored or covered with tissue paper, stickers or sequins.

Here's what you need:

2 Paper Plates (preferably heavy duty)
Beans, Pasta or Rice (something to fill the inside)
Stapler or Glue
Hole Punch
String, Yarn or Ribbon
Jingle Bells (optional)
Decorating Items - Crayons, Markers, Tissue Paper, Stickers, Sequins, etc.

Place your filler inside one of the plates, and place the other plate over top - so that the inside of both plates are facing each other. Staple or glue both plates together.

Using your decorations, make your tambourine colorful! If you're using jingle bells, you'll want to use your hole punch to put some holes around the edge, and than use string or ribbon to attach the bells.

For some more fun decorating ideas visit this website.

Put on some upbeat music and dance with your tambourine! How many different sounds can your new instrument make? What does the filling inside sound like? Maybe you'd like to make a couple tambourines with different things inside! Do the beans, rice or pasta all have different sounds? What types of sounds can you make with the jingle bells?

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