With Tek
How to make music with things around the house
To make music with things around the house, tap pots and bowls as drums, fill matching glasses with different amounts of water to play notes, and stretch rubber bands over an empty tissue box for a guitar. Every sound is a wiggle: big, slow wiggles sound low, and small, fast wiggles sound high. In this course your kid builds a kitchen band one instrument at a time, tunes five glasses like stairs, and writes a tune in glass numbers for the whole band to play. Tek hosts four short films for kids 6 to 13, and your kid ends with three homemade instruments and a song the family plays together. Plan about 4 minutes of films and 30–45 minutes of building and playing. On Kubrio, all four films and the quiz are free, with no account.
All 4 lessons and the quiz are free on this page. Your kid doesn't need an account. See every lesson
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▶ 1:45 tourWhat your kid makes
Your kid ends with a kitchen band: pot drums lined up from low to high, five glasses tuned like stairs, a rubber band guitar, and an original tune written in glass numbers that the family plays together. Along the way, your kid learns why big things sound low and small things sound high.
- Ages
- 6 to 13
- Time
- 4 films, about 4 minutes, then 30–45 minutes of building and playing
- You need
- Three pots or bowls and a wooden spoon, five matching glasses and water, and a grown-up to get the glasses, an empty tissue box and three rubber bands: one fat, one middle, and one thin, a pencil, and paper for the tune, a towel (optional)
- Host
- Tek
The 4 lessons
Lesson 1. Pots are drums
Every sound is a wiggle. A big pot wiggles slowly and sounds low, a small pot wiggles fast and sounds high, and a towel on top makes a soft thud.
- Hum and touch your throat to feel the buzz
- Tap three pots or bowls with a wooden spoon
- Line them up from low to high
Where: At home
Lesson 2. Glasses that sing
Water makes a glass wiggle slower, so more water plays a lower note and less water plays a higher one.
- Ask a grown-up for five matching glasses
- Pour a different amount of water in each and tap each one gently
- Tune them like stairs and number them 1 to 5
Where: At home
Lesson 3. A rubber band guitar
Tighter and thinner bands sound higher, and looser and fatter bands sound lower. A pencil under the bands lets them ring longer, and the box makes the sound bigger.
- Stretch a fat, a middle, and a thin band around a tissue box, over the hole
- Slide a pencil under the bands near one end
- Pluck them low, middle, high
Where: At home
Lesson 4. Play your song
The drums keep a steady beat, the glasses play a tune written as numbers, and the guitar strums at the end of every line.
- Keep a steady drum beat: boom, tap, boom, tap
- Write a tune as glass numbers, like 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 5 4 3 2 1
- Play it together with your family
Where: At home
Take the quiz
Tek asks 3 questions about the films. Get 2 right and you finish the course.
Transcript
Lesson 1: Pots are drums
Hi, I'm Tek! Your kitchen is full of hidden instruments. Let's start a band!
Every sound is a wiggle. Hum, and touch your throat. Feel the buzz?
Tap a pot with a wooden spoon. The pot wiggles super fast, and the air carries that wiggle to your ears.
A big pot wiggles slowly, so it sounds low. Boom! A small pot wiggles fast, so it sounds high. Tink!
Make it better. Flip a pot over. Tap the middle for a deep boom, and the edge for a ring. A towel on top makes a soft thud.
Your turn. Find three pots or bowls. Tap each one, and line them up from low to high. Then press Next.
Lesson 2: Glasses that sing
Now let's make a tune you can play with a spoon!
Ask a grown-up for five glasses that match. Line them up, and pour a different amount of water in each.
Tap each glass gently with a spoon. More water makes a lower note. Less water makes a higher note.
Why? The water makes the glass wiggle slower. Slow wiggle, low note. Just like the big pot!
Make it better. Add water a little at a time, until the notes go up like stairs. Then number the glasses, one to five.
Your turn. Line up five glasses, tune them like stairs, and number them. Then press Next.
Lesson 3: A rubber band guitar
Every band needs a guitar. Let's make one out of a box!
Stretch three rubber bands around an empty tissue box, right over the hole. Now pluck one. Twang!
Pull a band tighter, and it sounds higher. Let it go looser, and it sounds lower. Thin bands sound high. Fat bands sound low.
Make it better. Slide a pencil under the bands, near one end. It lifts them up, so they ring longer.
The box helps too. It wiggles with the bands, and makes the sound much bigger.
Your turn. Build a box guitar with a fat band, a middle band, and a thin band. Pluck them low, middle, high. Then press Next.
Lesson 4: Play your song
You have drums, glasses, and a guitar. That's a band! Let's play a song.
Start with the drums. Boom, tap, boom, tap. Keep it steady, like a heartbeat.
Now the tune. Write it on paper as glass numbers. One, two, three. One, two, three. Five, four, three, two, one!
Add the guitar. Strum all three bands at the end of every line.
Now play it all together! Ask your family to join in. One plays drums, one plays glasses.
Your turn. Write your own tune in glass numbers, and play it with your band. You made a kitchen band!
Questions parents ask
Is it safe for kids to play glasses with a spoon?
The films ask a grown-up to get five matching glasses, and your kid taps each one gently with a spoon. Use sturdy glasses on a steady table, and stay nearby with younger kids. The pots get the harder taps, with a wooden spoon.
Why does more water make a lower note?
The water makes the glass wiggle more slowly, and a slow wiggle sounds low, the same way a big pot sounds lower than a small one. Add water a little at a time to tune the glasses like stairs. Lesson 2 shows how.
Does my kid need to read music?
No. The tune is written as glass numbers, like 1 2 3, so your kid can write and play a song with no music reading. The films play on this page, with no account, and the band is made from pots, glasses, water, a tissue box, and rubber bands.