Muscycling

What happens when you mix fun and lively music with recycling? You get… musycling! This is a fun form of recycling that involves craft, science and, above all, music! With musycling you turn rubbish and unwanted items into fantastic musical instruments that can be played again and again. Children can explore sound and compose their own tunes and songs with the instruments they create.

On the accompanying sheets you will find some ideas of musycle instruments you can make with rubbish from around your home, such as boxes, tin cans and plastic bottles. These instructions can also be used as inspiration to create your own musycle instruments. Once completed, your children can have hours of fun creating their own tunes and songs. You may even wish to plan a musycle orchestra in which they can showcase their songs to friends and family.

You will need:
 

Used materials, such as empty boxes, cereal boxes, egg holders, elastic bands, yoghurt tubs, dried rice and pasta, old pots and pans and foil. There are so many possibilities.
Glue
A pair of scissors
Sticky tape
Decorating materials, such as coloured paper, sequins or paint.

Note: If using tin cans and other similar materials, make sure that the items have been checked thoroughly for sharp edges before use.
 

Instructions
1. Firstly, think about the type of instrument you’d like to make. Will it be a string instrument? A shaker? A drum? A wind instrument?

2. Choose your materials – look for things that you think will make an interesting sound when you bang or shake them. What materials would be good to make the type of instrument you want?

3. Finally, once you have made and decorated your instruments, use them to create your own musycle song or rubbish rap. It could be a song that explains to people how to recycle or why recycling is good for the environment.

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