The box guitar is an easy string instrument to make for a sound project in elementary school. Find an old shoe box or tissue box and assist each child to cut a large oval-shaped hole in the top. For extra fun, the children can decorate the box with crayons or stickers. Stretch three rubber bands, individually, around the box length ways so that each one goes over the hole. Put a pencil under the rubber bands on one side, near the hole, to mimic a guitar pickup. Explain to the children how vibrations of the elastic bands -- the strings -- travel through the different components of the guitar and make sound.
The tambourine is a fun, simple percussion instrument to make for a project. Assist children in gluing or stapling two paper plates together, facing each other. If using a stapler, make sure to cover the staples with scotch tape afterward. Get a hole punch and create holes around the edge of the plates. Tie small jingle bells on with string in the holes. Children should learn that sound is made when they shake the plates because the jingle bells vibrate and create a metal ringing sound.
This delightful horn instrument teaches children how different sounds can be made through some instruments by blowing, which is why these are called wind instruments. Start by covering one end of a paper towel roll with waxed paper and securing it with a rubber band. With the tip of a pen, poke a line of small holes down the paper towel roll. Three or four holes should be enough. Children then make sound by blowing into the open end of the roll, and can make different sounds by covering and uncovering the holes.
Homemade maracas are often a child's favorite instrument to play. Grab two plastic cups that are the same size. Fill one of the plastic cups half-full with coffee beans, dried peas, macaroni, rice or beads. Assist the child in hot gluing the two cups together, and then wrap masking tape around the rims to make it more secure. Children can decorate the plastic cups with acrylic paint or glue on fabric pieces to make their maracas more colorful if they wish. Explain to the children that the maracas work in the same way as the tambourine, as they are both percussion instruments, but they make different sounds because they are made out of different materials.