A fun book, needs more thought

I recently checked the book Rubber-Band Banjos and a Java Jive Bass: Projects and Activities on the Science of Music and Sound by Alex Sabbeth from our school library. It's a collection of activities rated by difficulty, designed to teach students about the science of sound. The project which really appeal to me, however, are those in which students create their own musical instruments. This book has a project to create a guitar, complete with frets, a banjo, a French horn-type instrument, and of course, some percussion instruments.

My special ed class complete their tambourine project last week. They all really enjoyed it, and seem to get a lot from having their "own" instruments, which they created. I'm really glad that I had some help thinking of these projects for them. Unfortunately, there were parts of the project which didn't work very well. I'm wishing they had been tested out better. First, the students were supposed to paint the pie tins which would become their tambourine (they did this with the art teacher). Except the paint didn't stick well to the plates. Even after she sprayed the tins to try to seal them, much of the paint is falling off. Also, the project involves using tape to attach a string around the side of the plate. Except the tape isn't sticking very well, either. I will continue to use the projects in this book, but I think next time I'll test them out better first.