Musical instruments come in many shapes and sizes. Every human civilization has used musical instruments of some sort.
Instruments can be very simple, like a drum, or extremely complex, like an Indonesian Gamelan.
Teach your children about musical instruments using our handy topic guide!
Teaching Ideas
- Try our Design a Musical Instrument idea in the Teaching Projects pack.
- Use our Musical Instruments Fact Cards for reading and research activities.
- This musical instrument naming activity is perfect for assessment at the beginning and end of your topic.
- Ask your children to sort instruments into different categories with this handy sheet.
- This simple game uses a variety of percussion instruments to help children to develop their listening skills.
- Try some of our teaching ideas for the book The Bear and the Piano.
Resources
- Download our Musical Instrument Posters.
- Add this Display Banner for your display board.
Musical Instrument Facts
- The oldest known musical instrument is a flute made of bone that was found in Slovenia. Scientists believe that it was made by Neanderthals about 60,000 years ago.
- Percussion instruments make a sound when they are hit, shaken or scrapped.
- Although a piano has strings, it is a percussion instrument because the sound is made when a hammer hits the strings inside the instrument.
- Violins were first made in northern Italy during the sixteenth century.
- Experts think that there might be as many as 1500 different instruments in the world.
Videos
The lick on 91 instruments
This video is fantastic for introducing children to a range of different instruments, featuring “the lick”, the same seven notes.
Running time: 2:10
Five(ish) Minute Drum Lesson – African Drumming: Lesson 1: The Djembe
This video introduces the djembe drum, including its history and significance in the Mali Empire, as well as how to play it.
Running time: 4:10
George Meets the Orchestra | An Introduction to the Orchestra for Children
In this video, George finds out about the instruments of the orchestra.
Running time: 6:01
How do instruments make music?
This short video from We The Curious is a brilliant explanation of how different instruments make a sound.
Running time: 2:24
Books
Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin
Hana has signed up to play the violin in a talent show, but she’s only had three lessons. How will she get on?
The Trumpet of the Swan
Louis is a trumpeter swan, but he cannot make a sound…
The Very Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra
This lovely book includes short clips from 10 classical pieces.
Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin
A beautiful rhyming book about an orchestra performance.
Music: A Fold-Out History
This timeline in a book shows the evolution of music to the present day.
Links
- Explore the orchestra with this Young Person’s Guide to the orchestra.
- This page has the sounds of 100 different instruments from around the world.
- Try out some virtual musical instruments.
Are you teaching your children about other topics? Explore our full collection of guides!
