Field plans for dadsOne page per plan · Friday letter

Home / Start here / Print pack

Your print pack

1 field card, one per page: Kitchen band: pot drums, shakers and a song.

Back to Start here

One card per US Letter page. No printer? Choose Save as PDF in the print screen.

Dad Field Manual · Field card 135 · Indoor & Rainy Day

Kitchen band: pot drums, shakers and a song

Every kitchen is a drum kit waiting to happen. In about 45 minutes you build three instruments from things you already own, learn one beat, and record a song you can play back or send to family.

Time
45 min
Cost
$0
Ages
2 to 8
Where
Kitchen floor

What you need

  • Two or three pots, pans or plastic bowls, upside down
  • Wooden spoons for drumsticks
  • Small plastic bottles or containers with lids, plus a little dry rice or beans
  • Strong tape (duct or packing tape)
  • An empty tissue box or small open box and four rubber bands
  • A phone to record

Before you start

  • Tape every shaker shut. Loose rice, beans and lids are small items babies and toddlers put in their mouths. You fill them, tape them, and check the tape before handing one over.
  • Rubber bands are a grown-up job. Put them on the box guitar yourself, and keep spares in your pocket, away from little ones.
  • Too loud, too close, too long. Drum with spoons, not metal on metal near ears, and take quiet breaks. If you have to shout over it, ease off.

Steps

  1. Raid the kitchen. Lay pots and bowls upside down on a towel. Tap each one and pick the drums.
  2. Make the shakers. Put rice in one container and beans in another. Close the lids tight and tape the seams twice.
  3. Build the box guitar. Stretch four rubber bands across an open tissue box. You stretch, they pluck and find low and high.
  4. Learn one beat. Say and play "boom, boom, clap": two pot hits and a shake. Slow, fast, then freeze.
  5. Pick a song and assign parts. Pick a known song or make one up. Kid assigns instruments. Rehearse twice.
  6. Record the song. Name the band, count in and record one take on the phone. Play it back together.

If it stalls

  • If they only want to bang as hard as they can, give them the big pot for one minute of all-out drumming, then switch to quiet mode: fingers only.
  • If the beat falls apart, drop the instruments and just clap it together, then add them back one at a time.
Band name · takes recorded
Signed off: can do this.Signed by Date