Making African Instruments

Dive into the vibrant world of African music and let it spark your class’s creativity as they explore and craft traditional instruments like the kalimba, djembe drum and shekere. Students will investigate how each instrument produces sound, then replicate those mechanisms using appropriate materials and tools. This hands-on journey culminates in a class performance of African-inspired music, offering a rich opportunity to showcase and evaluate the instruments they’ve designed and built.

Fully prepared with lesson plans, slideshows, differentiated learning activities and a range of printable resources, this KS2 scheme of work is ready to download and teach.

You may also like our Amazing Africa Topic Bundle containing four ready-to-teach schemes of work covering Geography, History, Art and DT. 

Investigating African Instruments

Dive into the world of African music and instruments by listening and appraising some African music with your class. Enjoy the rich and diverse music and use this to identify some common African instruments. Investigate these instruments closer by analysing them and how they make their sound or researching them to create a multimedia presentation about the children’s chosen instruments.

View Lesson 1

Testing Materials

Look more closely at the kalimba and the sounds that it makes. Investigate the lengths of the keys and how this changes the sound which is produced. Can your class replicate this using a variety of materials. Encourage your children to analyse and choose materials carefully to choose the most effective for their own kalimba designs.

View Lesson 2

Making a Kalimba

Listen to and analyse the structure of a kalimba with your class to identify the areas they feel need to be strengthened and reinforced and the areas which will need to be secured effectively in order to make a successful kalimba. Challenge the children to take these ideas into consideration as they create their own kalimba.

View Lesson 3

Djembes and Shekeres

Immerse your class in the sounds of the African percussion instruments, djembe drums and shekeres. Investigate the sounds each type of instrument makes and begin to design or create the main part of the instrument focusing on strengthening the structures and how they will be decorated, inspired by other African instruments they have seen.

View Lesson 4

Making a Djembe or Shekere

Create an African percussion instrument with your class using their designs from a previous lesson. Encourage the children to strengthen and reinforce different parts of their instruments using different materials, techniques and tools. After creating their own instruments the children can add finishing touches inspired by the African instruments they have looked at and researched.

View Lesson 5

Performing and Evaluating

Give the children the opportunity to use and evaluate their products in a practical way by creating an African-music-inspired composition. Have your class perform in groups with their chosen instruments and use this to guide rich evaluations of their products’ strengths and weaknesses.

View Lesson 6