Playful Parenting: Bringing Play to Every Day

Playful Parenting: Bringing Play to Every Day

DIY Paper Tube Xylophone

Get your kids excited about exploring music by making your own paper tube xylophone. Or, make a few and start your own xylophone band!

What You’ll Need

  • Paper tubes of various sizes (paper towels, toilet paper, etc.)
  • Acrylic paints
  • Craft knife, box cutter or scissors
  • Cardboard
  • Rubber bands or hair ties
  • Glue
  • Chopsticks

What You’ll Do

  • Cut 6-8 paper tubes in varying sizes, each measuring an inch less in length than the previous tube.
  • Paint each tube a different color.
  • Create the underside of your xylophone frame by lining up all of your paper tubes in order. You should end up with a trapezoid shape. Measure the total length and width and cut a large piece of cardboard to match your measurements.
  • Measure and cut four one-inch-high pieces of cardboard to surround the frame. Secure the pieces with glue to the frame underside piece.
  • Secure the paper tubes together with rubber bands. For a secure fit, connect each tube to its neighbor by twisting the rubber band in a figure eight pattern, and using a rubber band on both the top and bottom of each tube. Repeat until all tubes are connected.
  • Place the tubes inside the xylophone frame. If it doesn’t fit tightly, use a small amount of glue to attach it.
  • Use chopsticks as drumsticks and explore the different sounds the paper xylophone makes.

What Kids Learn

How to Support the Play

  • Remember: There is often more than one “right way” of doing things.
  • When a child asks for help, guide without taking over. Nudge them along with suggestions framed as questions. “What would happen if…?”
  • Avoid imposing one right way of doing things!

HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES

HANDS-ON ARTICLES

Glue Gun Fun

There’s no substitution for hands-on exploration. Letting kids (safely) experiment with real tools, such as a glue gun, provides opportunities to build confidence, independence, creative thinking skills and more.

read more

Make Your Own Eyeball Wall at Home

If you’ve visited our new special exhibit, Monsters on Summer Vacation, you’ve likely seen the Eyeball Wall, a chalkboard wall covered in eyes that is the perfect backdrop for visitors to sketch out monster faces of their own.

read more

Build a Gnome Home

Spark your child’s imagination and creative thinking skills by building a whimsical gnome home. Make a single home or an entire village.

read more

Water Play

Kids love playing with water. But it's not just about the fun of splashing around and getting wet. Kids experiment, explore and discover while playing with water — Does this object float or sink? How does water flow through this funnel? What happens if I fill a cup...

read more

Milk Carton Bird Feeder

Have an empty milk carton on hand? Spark some creativity and fun – and put it to good use – by creating a DIY bird feeder.

read more

DIY Kinetic Sand

Kinetic sand is an easy project that allows kids to explore their senses, build fine motor skills and strengthen their imaginative play muscles.

read more

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This