Did you see the Google doodle today? It’s a mbira.
Last year I had to instruct my 3rd grade Cub Scouts how to make one. I was worried because overly hyper boys with wire cutters and bobby pins seemed like a bad idea. So I pre-cut everything before the meeting. Once that was done, it turns out to be a pretty simple project.
Sort of. I still had a dozen boys and a few siblings, so I did enlist parent help.
You’ll need a piece of wood. This one is 5″×5″. 2 tongue depressers (large popsicle sticks). Bobby pins. Hot glue. Wire cutters. Optional: wood stapler and staples
1. Cut the bobby pins to different lengths. You can straighten them out to make longer keys. Obviously I kept it simple to 3 bobby pins. You may want to wear eye protection when you do this.
2. Hot glue a tongue depresser onto the board. We did ours about 1.5″ from the edge.
3. Hot glue or staple the bobby pins onto the tongue depresser. Longest to shortest.
4. Hot glue the second tongue depresser on top of the first.
Tada. You can decorate them if you want. And they aren’t very loud. We did two other instruments that I will share soon.
More ideas to come. Stay safe. Stay sane!
Faemom 
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