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The Craft Train

Crafty ideas for kids and parents

You are here: Home / Crafts and Activities / DIY Toys / Mini Lid Banjos

Mini Lid Banjos

May 12, 2019 By Kate 19 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post at no cost to you.

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This Mini Lid Banjo craft was Originally Published on June 1, 2015 and has been updated for 2019

Make some mini banjos from old jar lids and loom bands with a craft stick handle. This is a fun stem or steam craft for kids and the finished miniature banjo is so adorable!

Once finished, your mini banjo’s loom band strings make a very soft strumming sound (which parents might prefer, haha!).

You might also like these cardboard tube shakers.

Mini lid banjos - repurpose old jar lids into a cute DIY toy. THese miniature banjos are a fun stem or steam craft idea for summer!. Also a great musical instrument craft for kids #musicalinstrument #recycle #recyclingcraft #kidscraft #diytoy #jarlids #craftsticks #banjos #diy #thecrafttrain

Jar lids  and washi tape are both things I’ve been collecting for a while, feeling sure that they would come in handy for some future craft idea (I may have been called a hoarder once or twice).

Now I’ve finally used them for something – hooray! The kids love these mini banjos so much that they don’t even mind that I raided their loom band collection for the strings. You can make your own Mini Lid Banjo in less than ten minutes (and that’s a conservative estimate).

Mini lid banjos - repurpose old jar lids into a cute DIY toy. THese miniature banjos are a fun stem or steam craft idea for summer!. Also a great musical instrument craft for kids #musicalinstrument #recycle #recyclingcraft #kidscraft #diytoy #jarlids #craftsticks #banjos #diy #thecrafttrain

How to make a mini lid banjo

mini lid banjos steps

You will need:

• Jumbo craft sticks – one per banjo
• Loom Bands – four per banjo
• Washi tape
• Duct tape
• Sequins
• Craft glue

How to:

Place four loom bands over the lid and secure in place with a pice of duct tape as shown (I did try hot glue gun for a more seamless finish but guess what? the loom bands melted and snapped as soon as they touched the hot glue – whoops!)

mini lid banjos steps

Next cut the end from your jumbo craft stick and decorate it with a washi tape pattern.

mini lid banjos steps

mini lid banjos steps

Now attach the lid with loom bands in place to the craft stick with a second piece of duct tape.

Finally use small dabs of craft glue to stick on your sequins, or alternatively use plastic gems or a marker to draw the little tuning knobs on the end of your banjo handle.

mini lid banjos steps

Mini lid banjos - repurpose old jar lids into a cute DIY toy. THese miniature banjos are a fun stem or steam craft idea for summer!. Also a great musical instrument craft for kids #musicalinstrument #recycle #recyclingcraft #kidscraft #diytoy #jarlids #craftsticks #banjos #diy #thecrafttrain

That’s all! The sound is less amazing than I’d hoped for but they do look cute and that’s the most important thing don’t you think?

Mini lid banjos - repurpose old jar lids into a cute DIY toy. THese miniature banjos are a fun stem or steam craft idea for summer!. Also a great musical instrument craft for kids #musicalinstrument #recycle #recyclingcraft #kidscraft #diytoy #jarlids #craftsticks #banjos #diy #thecrafttrain


For tons of fun ways to repurpose all sorts of things visit my Recycle and Repurpose board on Pinterest.

More STEM craft ideas kids will love

  • Make some fun Cardboard Tube Shakers
  • These sponge boats are fun in the bath tub or for outdoor play
  • OR what about a balloon powered sponge boat?
  • Did you know that you can make an iphone speaker from a paper roll?
  • What about a DIY straw swing set or see-saw? So fun!

Mini lid banjo craft idea for kids. Use old jar lids, loom bands and crafts sticks to make the cutest miniature banjos. This is a fun and easy stem craft for kids #stem #steam #banjo #musicalinstruments #kidscrafts

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Comments

  1. 1

    Natalie Frank says

    June 5, 2015 at 3:21 pm

    Is this not the most cute innovative idea ever!! Love it!
    Thanks for sharing 🙂 when my lil one gets old enough, we are totally doing this so she can jam with daddy (who plays guitar!)
    – Natalie at relentlessatheart.com

    Reply
    • 2

      Kate says

      June 9, 2015 at 2:26 am

      Thanks Natalie! It’s always great to hear positive feedback.

      Reply
  2. 3

    Angela says

    June 16, 2015 at 9:54 pm

    Love these – they are so cute! Am going to make them into busy bags to keep my kids entertained for an afternoon while on holiday! Am off now to check out the rest of your site for more great ideas! Thank you A

    Reply
    • 4

      Kate says

      June 17, 2015 at 12:44 am

      Thanks Angela,hope they have fun making them!

      Reply
  3. 5

    Llyn Barnette says

    June 19, 2015 at 4:47 pm

    Super cute craft. Think we will cut circles of scrapbook or origami paper for the inside and back of the lid. Love these sooo much.

    Reply
    • 6

      Kate says

      June 20, 2015 at 2:56 am

      That sounds like a great idea!

      Reply
  4. 7

    Nancy says

    February 23, 2016 at 4:09 pm

    Do these have different pitches?

    Reply
    • 8

      Kate says

      May 24, 2016 at 1:40 pm

      They’re more just for fun, but yes the smaller lid sounds slightly higher pitched than the larger one but the quality of sound is not amazing in both

      Reply
  5. 9

    Abby says

    May 23, 2016 at 6:49 pm

    Do you think this would work with mason jar lids?

    Reply
    • 10

      Kate says

      May 24, 2016 at 1:38 pm

      I’m sure it would

      Reply
  6. 11

    Luna says

    March 31, 2019 at 8:17 pm

    Hi Kate,
    Do you think it will work if I use the narrow craft sticks?

    Reply
    • 12

      Kate says

      April 2, 2019 at 2:26 pm

      it will work but it might look a bit different and the length of the handle would be smaller. You could try two craft sticks together

      Reply
  7. 13

    Kymia Lloyd says

    April 21, 2020 at 10:23 am

    can you use rubberbands

    Reply
    • 14

      Kate says

      April 22, 2020 at 6:55 am

      That could work if the rubber bands are small ones, try it?

      Reply
  8. 15

    RKap says

    April 24, 2020 at 10:05 pm

    Thanks Kate for such a nice idea, we made one and have kept for drying, we used small pieces of left over cloth pieces for our banjo. It kept my 5 year old busy for a while making and playing it.

    Reply
    • 16

      Kate says

      April 25, 2020 at 6:15 am

      Sounds lovely! I’m glad you guys had fun

      Reply
  9. 17

    Karen says

    November 9, 2020 at 12:06 pm

    omg I love these thank you Kate, you’re so nice and I will recommend for all my friends and give it to them for Christmas and we can make a banjo show

    Reply
    • 18

      Kate says

      November 9, 2020 at 12:47 pm

      What a fun idea!

      Reply
      • 19

        Karen says

        November 10, 2020 at 10:28 am

        I made some of these and gave them to my friends and then we all played them in a banjo show all of them loved the banjos so much and everyone enjoyed the show thank you for suggesting such an innovative idea Kate, much appreciated xoxoxox

        Reply

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