Recycle lidded food containers such as old coffee cans, oatmeal boxes and plastic ice cream pails to use as drums. Have the children decorate their drums with paint, stickers, crayons, markers and any other embellishments available.
Create guitars by helping the children string different width rubber bands over shoe boxes with holes cut out of them, and show them how the different size bands create different sounds.
Use old tin foil pans and string to make cymbals.
Place assorted colored wax paper on one end of paper towel tubes. Have the children decorate the tubes however they like with markers, crayons, paint and stickers. The children can then sing into the tubes to produce a kazoo-like effect.
Take the children outside and play some music. Give the children sidewalk chalk and instruct them to "draw the music." They can also hold pieces of chalk on the sidewalk and drag it around as they dance. This game can also be played indoors using construction paper and paint. Play some upbeat music and have the children interpret the music with paint on paper.
Children can dip Christmas jingle bells into pots of red and green paint, scoop the bells out with plastic spoons and place them in a box that holds a piece of white construction paper. Have the children shake the bells around the box to create Christmas music as well as a unique holiday painting.