Play recipe

Cardboard Box Guitar

Age2–5 years

Time15–30 min

MessLow-mess

EnergySome energy

SettingIndoor

Music Craft Creative

You'll need

Tissue box or small cardboard box
Rubber bands
Paper towel roll
Tape

Steps

1Stretch rubber bands around the box opening
2Tape paper towel roll to one end as neck
3Decorate if desired
4Strum and make music together

Why this works

Creating instruments gives ownership and encourages musical exploration.

Try also

–Make different sized guitars for different sounds
–Add stickers for decoration
–Form a family band with multiple instruments

Rubber bands can snap, so supervise younger children.

A closer look

This is an instrument you build, not a pot you bang. Rubber bands across a tissue-box opening actually vibrate. Different band thickness changes the pitch, which is why kids strum the same box twenty times: the sound is theirs.

You stretch the bands; they can decorate and strum. A paper-towel roll taped on as a neck makes it look like a guitar and gives them somewhere to hold. Play one song together, then leave it out. Kitchen-band pots are a different game (hitting). This one is plucking.

Make it easier

Skip the neck. Bands on a box is enough to strum.
Use wide, loose bands so they don't sting fingers.
You hold the box; they strum.

Make it harder

Add a second box with tighter bands and compare the sound.
Let them 'tune' by sliding a pencil under the bands.
Take turns copying a short strum pattern.

Skills this builds

Making a sound by plucking, then changing it, is early cause-and-effect for music, plus the two-handed hold a real guitar needs later.

Common questions

The rubber bands keep snapping.

Use thicker bands and don't stretch them to the limit. A cereal box with a hole cut in the front works if the tissue box tears. Supervise under-threes; a snapped band can sting. Spare bands in a drawer save the afternoon.

They just want to smash it. Is that still music?

For a minute, yes, then park the guitar and switch to pots if they need to hit. The guitar only works if the bands stay on. You can say this one is for strumming, the saucepan is for drumming, and mean it.

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