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How To Make a Guitar with Kids

April 19, 2021

Well… I say “how to make a guitar with kids” and a guitar we did make. But this is a musical instrument craft for kids in the most generous sense – it DOES play different notes (we will try and explain the science behind it for you over on Life At The Zoo), but clearly this will not be an instrument you will learn to play music on.

Musical Instruments
First shared in March 2013

Interestingly, we do have a real kid’s guitar and we now have this toy guitar and Red Ted loves playing with both equally. That, is what I call a result!

To make a this instrument you will need:

  • a container (to help make the sound resonate),
  • elastic bands of varying sizes and thickness,
  • cardboard,
  • a stick,
  • beads (optional),
  • tape and
  • hot glue gun (you may get away without the hot glue gun, but just lots of tape).

How to make a cardboard guitar (with sound)

It was really easy to make. I probably did most of it though (sorry), but the kids were involved in every step of the process and rather excited.

DIY Guitar for Kids

1) Wrap your elastic bands around your container and tape in place, so they don’t slide off whilst playing. Just to reiterate – the plastic container is a great way to help make those elastic bands REALLY resonate and make the guitar more musical.

Cardboard Guitar

2) Cut out a guitar shape from cardboard (we used the flap of a large box), including a hole for the strings.

Guitar Craft

3) Tape your container to the back of your cardboard. Then use a hot glue gun to help secure any remaining edges.

4) Glue your stick to your cardboard (or tape in place). We then added some pony beads as “tuners” to the guitar and glued in place with the hot glue gun.

Kids Guitar Craft

And finished.. can you believe it?

Kids Cardboard Guitar
Cardboard Guitar Craft

Later… our white guitar cardboard proved irresistible and the kids started colouring it in!

Check out our full collection of Musical Instrument Crafts for Kids here:

Musical instrument craft ideas
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Filed Under: Kids Craft, Music, Recycling 27 Comments

Comments

  1. Emma @Mummymummymum says

    May 1, 2013 at 8:30 am

    Brilliant Maggy 🙂

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      May 1, 2013 at 9:41 am

      Thank you! The kids had fun (even though I seemed to be doing most of the making?!)

      Reply
  2. Liz Burton says

    May 1, 2013 at 12:07 pm

    Your guitar is SO cool!

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      May 1, 2013 at 12:25 pm

      Thanks Liz, I love how the kids love it equally to the “real one”…

      Reply
  3. @BlueBearWood says

    May 1, 2013 at 1:33 pm

    Brilliant. It has been added to our to do list. Handmade Rock Band is real

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      May 1, 2013 at 1:42 pm

      I think you are right. We had some drums for a while too!

      Reply
  4. Bella says

    May 1, 2013 at 2:31 pm

    That’s so clever. Love how kids can decorate the guitar and personalize it!

    Reply
  5. Ness @ One Perfect Day says

    May 1, 2013 at 2:53 pm

    This is fantastic Maggy. I love the colourful pony bead tuners and the fact that Pip Squeak and Red Ted added their own finishing touches!

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      May 1, 2013 at 3:21 pm

      Yes, it looked like a white canvas screaming to be coloured in!! I think it may be an ongoing process too!

      Reply
  6. Chris at Thinly Spread says

    May 1, 2013 at 3:32 pm

    Those are such fabulous photos! I love it!

    Reply
  7. A Patchwork Life says

    May 1, 2013 at 4:44 pm

    Looks like a lot of fun! Love that the kids did a bit of decorating 🙂

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      May 1, 2013 at 5:02 pm

      Yes, I think they were rather “surprised” that they were allowed to draw “anything”!

      Reply
  8. Galia says

    May 5, 2013 at 10:05 am

    Such a great idea, can’t wait to do with my childrem (:
    love your blog!

    Reply
  9. Rachel says

    May 8, 2013 at 5:20 am

    Maggy, this is so much fun!!! And I have to say, your kids get cuter and cuter as they grow… my goodness!!! Thanks for sharing at For the Kids Fridays! I’m featuring this post at this week’s party!!

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      May 8, 2013 at 11:55 am

      Awe what a lovely thing to say!! Crazy seeing them grow up, isn’t it?!

      Reply
  10. Cerys @ Rainy Day Mum says

    May 13, 2013 at 8:27 pm

    I have yet another thing to add to our MUST make list now. This is fantastic.

    Thank you for linking up to Tuesday Tots – just to let you know that I will be featuring this over on Rainy Day Mum this week.

    Reply

Trackbacks

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