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Making Music in Nature
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In this activity, learners will explore the ways natural materials can produce sounds. Appropriate for any age, learners can make individual music or create a symphony with others.

Circuit Bending with Play-Doh
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Break open that used musical toy and squish some Play-Doh over the circuit boards, and you will hear some weird and distorted sounds the manufacturer never intended!
Musical Coathanger
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In this activity, learners turn an ordinary metal coat-hanger into a (very quiet) musical instrument.

Musical Gloves
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Put on a pair of gloves and be the conductor of your invisible orchestra!

Engineered Music
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In this activity, learners explore how musical instruments are engineered.

Tube Zither
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In this activity, learners explore sound by constructing tube zithers, stringed instruments from Southeast Asia and the South Pacific.

Pickle-oh!: Musical Pickle Instrument
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What's a Pickle-Oh? Two pieces of pickle on a stick are connected to a Pico Cricket (micro controller). When you slide the pickles apart the note changes.

Make Pan Pipes
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This is a simple activity for learners to create a traditional musical instrument. Pan Pipes have developed all over the world in different cultures, from South America to Greece and China.

Torsion Drum
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In this activity, learners build a musical drum using a cardboard tube, plastic wrap, and beads.

Musical Sculpting Machine: Squeeze Play-Doh to Make Music
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Play-Doh is conductive! Use the semiconductive qualities of Play-Doh to make your own squeezable instrument. Pico Cricket is required.

Musical Ice: How to Make an Ice Theremin
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Build a musical ice theremin by programming a micro controller, like a Pico Cricket to respond to resistance generated by the ice melting, or the ice being touched.

Matraca
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In this activity, learners create a traditional Mexican noisemaker (a matraca) using cardboard, craft sticks, and a wooden dowel.

Making Circuits
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In this activity, learners explore electricity and conductivity to find that many things conduct electricity including copper, pencil lead, fruit, play-doh, and even people!

Sound Charades
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In this game, learners create flash cards with an image on one side (of an animal, for example) and the sound that animal makes on the other.

Vocal Visualizer
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With a bit of PVC, a laser, a can/cup, and a small mirror, you can make a device that visualizes you voice or any sound transmitted into the cup/can.

Battle the Baby!
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In this interactive game, learners compare their music-listening skills with that of a three-month-old baby.

Canjo
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In this activity, learners explore sound by constructing their very own banjo out of a coffee can. Learners experiment with the canjo to change the instrument's pitch and timbre.

Pico Cricket (Tiny Computer) Activity Ideas
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This is a web page that helps informal educators brainstorm on how to use a Pico Cricket (tiny computer) in an informal activity.

Metal Noise Maker
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In this activity, learners explore how sound travels through solid objects better than through air. Leaners attach a metal clothes hanger to a piece of string and hold it to their ears.

Wandering Wands
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In this activity, learners construct wands that play different notes depending on information from light sensors programmed via a PICO Cricket.