Outdoor play is a must at our place, my kids go crazy if they're locked inside for the day so I'm always looking for ways to make our outdoor play space exciting, fun and full of adventures. I'm always trying to expand and improve our yard so Dimples & Miss Cherub have plenty to learn from, play with and enjoy. This is another gadget I have designed and rigged up outside for them to get creative with.
It's quite simple, an old wood pallet (painted and stood up) with a line of tin cans that have been painted in the colours of the rainbow and screwed on to the pallet bottom facing up from smallest to largest.
Dimples helped paint and order these, they make a great mini drum set. There's a DIY chime, it's made from a bunch of old keys strung to a metal tin box with wire and another DIY chime made from a milo can with metal can lids threaded below with wire so they hang close together and some more keys for some extra rattling sounds. The keys sound the most musical as they can be rattled, shaken, hit or chimed from left to right and have lovely quite tones.
At first we started with the rainbow cans like a big xylophone and we have slowly built on to it from there. I am sure we will continue to improve it over time and add more as we collect some suitable musical items to screw on. Down lower there are now 3 large metal mixing bowls and some old metal camping bowls that are screwed on loosely so they're able to spin around (see below). They are like super large symbols or can be used like drums.
Dimples sits in the sand and uses them like steering wheels in his imaginative play and miss Cherub bangs them with a wooden spoon and giggles because they have the best effect, sounding like large symbols and very loud compared to the cans. I have attached a string to the wooden spoons so they get hung up and are always near by.
Cans and tins, milo can lids and strung up bottle tops, hanging keys and metal bowls all make different sounds. Both the kids and their friends have enjoyed making music, singing and dancing around in the sand with huge smiles on their faces. They love experimenting with sounds and instruments, they love using the wall as different instruments from a xylophone, a chime & a drum set. It's been a great creative outlet for their play space.
If you haven't already you can check out some of our outdoor play spaces here
