Unplug and Read!

I'm happy to have been invited to join the Unplug and Read Tour, hosted by Random House Kids!  Screen-Free Week is coming up in just 25 days, and I'm sharing a great book today to celebrate: Want to Be in a Band? by Suzzy Roche and Giselle Potter.

Suzzy Roche is one-third of The Roches, and her experience as a little girl with older musical sisters was her inspiration for the book.  Giselle Potter's paintings bring the story to life, making you hear those harmonies and guitars in your head as you read.  The book gives advice to aspiring young musicians, from bribing your sisters to let you play with them right through meeting a Very Important Music Business Guy!

I am a big fan of noise making and music, so I thought I would share some instrument inspiration to go along with this book!  You might want to make a little noise between books during screen-free week!  Everything here can be made with things that you probably have around the house or the classroom, so there are no excuses!

Alec from Child's Play Music shares this excellent packing tape drum. 

I have shared this before, but I this banging wall from Make and Play is so much fun!  I can hear the different tones coming out of all of those pans as I look at the images.  

Finally, chances are you have some glasses and water around, so why not try out a water xylophone?  I never knew that there was a science to a certain volume of water in a certain capacity glass container making reliable notes...time to get out the measuring cup and glasses!

We all need a little reminder to reduce our screen time, so put April 29th to May 5th on your calendar and celebrate screen-free week by reading and making new things out of old stuff!  If you have any advice, or more ideas for instrument making, please share them in the comments!