Last year our music area was pretty much neglected, so I wanted to update it and add elements to make it more dynamic.
Here were my considerations:
- Noise. Since our preschool is connected to elementary classes, and there are apartments across the street, there had to be care in selecting the instruments that were out at all times. We had to avoid constant – loud drums, banging on pots (basically all the wonderful noises). However, if noise isn’t a factor for your school- go for it! I’ve seen old pots attached to the wall in outdoor play spaces, and I’m sure the kids love to bang on them. I’ve seen some online that have fun names too like sound line, or Sound Garden!
- Durability for outdoors. We had some plastic maracas that held up, but the hooks on their ends didn’t.. We have plenty of instruments we bring out on occasion- but we have to make an event around these because they are fragile.
So my remaining ideas were:
- build a xylophone, which didn’t work.
- make a key instrument, which kind of worked
- put up a wind chime at kid height, which worked for a while. The string kept getting knotted up and it fell apart eventually.
- make a thumb piano, which hasn’t worked yet.
- make an acoustic shell
A parent also donated a toy piano, which is so great! It is so cool looking!