DIY Tambourine - Homemade Harmonies with Ellen Chang

So today we’re going to be making a paper plate tambourine. And for this you’re going to
need ​two paper plates, some yarn, a hole puncher, about five to ten jingle bells and about a
handful of beans​.
So let’s go ahead and start off with our yarn. You want to measure about 3 inches of yarn
and give that a little snip and put that little string to the side. And we’re going to need maybe
10 to 12 of these pieces of yarn​. So keep on cutting until you have enough.
So now let’s go back to our paper plates. You’re going to want to take one and flip it over
and lay it on top of your other plate.
And now you need your hole puncher and we’re just going to punch a hole through both of
these plates along the rim. And just go ahead and punch that through.
And we’re going to take one of our pieces of yarn that we cut a minute ago. We’re going to
string that through both of the plates and then give that a nice knot. Probably a double knot
would be better so that we can make sure that these plates stay together.
And when your knot is in place then let’s go ahead and look to the opposite side of our
plate. And we’re going to want to grab our hole puncher again. And this time we’re going to
punch a hole on the opposite side of our first hole and then grab another piece of yarn that
we cut earlier and string it through both plates one more time. And give that a little knot so
that we can keep those nice and secure.
Now let’s go ahead and finish off one side of our tambourine, shall we?
And again you’re going to want to take your hole puncher and you’re going to punch holes all
across one side. Mime were about an inch to an inch and a half apart.
And then when you’re done with that we’re going to need our jingle bells. So earlier we made
are knots and we did’t add a jingle bell and what we want to do now is we’re going to take
turns between each hole. So the first hole we did not have a jingle bell so for this next one
I’m going to take another piece of yarn but this time instead of stringing it through the plate
first I’m going to first string it through one of my jingle bells and then string it through my
plate. And then I’m just gonna give that another double knot to make sure that that bell is
really safe on there.
And now we just want to continue the process and we’re going to take turns between each
hole. So we’re going to have no bell and then bell and no bell and then bell. And you get the
idea.
So congratulations you’ve reached the halfway point and your tambourine should put a little
bit like this.
So here I’m just opening my plate so that I can get my beans ready and then I’m just going
to dump them inside. So I can give my tambourine a little bit of a nice rattle when I do my
rhythms.
And then now we’re going to just go ahead and close up the other side of our tambourine.
So again I’m taking my hole puncher and making holes across the side about an inch to an
inch and a half apart. And then I’m going to take turns putting on those bells and tying these
strings of yarn.
Of course it’s decorating time again so you can decorate your tambourine with whatever you
have around the house and however you want to so that it represents you. So how did your
instruments turn out? Well these are some terrific tambourines. Now that we have them all
decorated and made.
Let’s learn how to play them too. To play tambourine all you have to do is to pat it. The
beans inside will make a little bit of rhythm.