Milk Carton Guitar

Follow these easy instructions to make a guitar that your preschooler can really play.
by: Trish Kuffner, author of The Preschooler's Busy Book

Milk Carton Guitar


Materials

  • Cardboard milk carton (half-gallon size)
  • Sharp knife
  • Tape
  • Yardstick
  • Saw
  • 45-inch length of nylon fishing line

Directions

  1. Tape shut the top of a clean, empty half-gallon milk carton.
  2. With a sharp knife, cut vertical slits, big enough to slip a yardstick through, in two sides of the carton, two-thirds up from the bottom.
  3. Cut a notch about a half inch deep near each end of the yardstick with a saw and insert through the carton.
  4. Position the carton near the center of the yardstick. Make a loop in one end of the length of fishing line and slip it over the notch on the top of the yardstick.
  5. Pull the line over the top of the carton and loop it around the notch at the other end of the yardstick.
  6. Tie securely and pull the carton to one end of the yardstick.
  7. To play the guitar, strum the string near the top edge of the milk carton with one hand. Pinch the string to the yardstick with the other hand to change pitches.