DIY Recycled Didgeridoo
Posted by Happy Active Kids on
Today’s craft activity was chosen by Big boy for his school news topic. He had to talk about something unique to Australia and he chose to speak about the Australian didgeridoo.
The didgeridoo is a primitive wind musical instrument created and played by the Aboriginal people of northern Australia. It was traditionally made from the trunk of a eucalyptus tree that has been hollowed out by termites or white ants. The instrument is approximately 1.3 metres in length and was used as an accompaniment to chants and songs by the Aboriginal people during ceremonies. The didgeridoo is played by blowing into it with the mouth and produces a low-pitch, resonant sound. Each didgeridoo is unique and no two instruments sound exactly alike as the shape of the insides makes the sound unique.
Reading about the didgeridoo provided a wonderful opportunity to learn more about Indigenous Australian people and another culture. We crafted our mini didgeridoo using the inner tube of a baking paper roll. This is a great way to recycle and reuse something that would otherwise be thrown away!
There is massive opportunity to be creative when decorating the didgeridoo. We decided to decorate our didgeridoo with the traditional Indigenous dot painting. The simple dot style of indigenous dot painting is aesthetically beautiful and has a lot of hidden meaning in them. The boys found this form of art a lot of fun and is a medium they want to practice more in future.
Hope your kids have fun making this mini didgeridoo whilst also learning about different traditions and culture.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED FOR THE DIY RECYCLED DIDGERIDOO:- 1 x inner tube of baking paper/aluminium foil/cling wrap
- Your choice of decorating materials – we used q-tips/cotton buds and paint
- Paint inner tube brown to resemble the colour of wood
- Use Q-tip/cotton buds to make dot paintings as preferred. We used acrylic paint to achieve bright colours.
* This post and all associated images have been supplied by the lovely Rossa from Curious Little People. Follow her on Instagram for more creative inspirations!