Music to My Ears (or Nose)

In order to prevent complete boredom and cabin fever craziness I started a system last year in which I rotate the toys that are in our living room every week. Over the New Year weekend, I reorganized the toys into new thematic rotations and this week we've been having a music themed toy selection.
The boys have been enjoying an assortment of store bought and homemade musical instruments, although they frequently find alternate uses for them. We have discovered that rhythm sticks can also draw on walls, homemade tambourines can be used as flying saucers or Chinese throwing stars and maracas make an ever more satisfying sound when you use them to hit someone on the head.
Surprisingly, some of the most popular items are our paper towel tube "trumpets". The boys love to play them by singing or shouting into them loudly. Elijah used his today to announce everyone's name in the family in sports arena style.
"There's Daddy on the couch! Aaaaand Gabriel and David John! 'Lijah's on the table and Mommy in the kitchen! Thaaaaaat's our family!"

David John couldn't quite get the hang of his at first and ended up looking like Pinocchio or an up-tight elephant. Eventually, he figured it out and can now yell with the best of them.
Anyway, I thought I'd be a good mom this week and try some structured activities in order to reduce the chaos in our house. I decided we'd make some shakers with dry beans and old seasoning bottles. After tasting the dried beans and finding them inedible, David John figured out that it would be better just to drop them in the plastic container.


Elijah did a great job putting beans in his and testing it until it had just the right sound.

We hot glued the caps on to prevent future messes and choking hazards. I asked Gabe to show me his partially finished shaker and smile. This is what I got:

Next, I cut some paper to the same size as the labels we ripped off and let the boys decorate it. This was very serious business.

There are no pictures of David John coloring his label because if I let go of his hands to snap the photo, he just threw the crayons, crumpled the paper and drooled on it. When the labels were done we hot glued them on also. Here are the finished products:

Everyone was proud to show daddy their creation when Marc got home. We had a great jam session- but since then the boys have discovered that the best sound quality is created when you throw them from mid-leap off the couch. And I thought music was supposed to soothe the savage beast(s).