Orchestra instruments for kids are exciting to explore! Join Winnie Rat as he discovers the amazing instruments of the orchestra and learns about the string, woodwind, brass, and percussion families through fun music activities.
Winnie Rat Resources
Instrument Families for Kids
Learn About the Instrument Families With Winnie Rat!
Instrument Lesson
Can You Find Your Instrument?
What Instrument Are You? 🎵
Answer 5 quick questions to find your musical match!
Question 1 of 5
What Winnie Rat Teaches
Winnie Rat loves the instruments of the orchestra.
What are the four instrument families of the orchestra?
Meet the Four Instrument Families
The orchestra is made up of four instrument families: strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. Learning about orchestra instruments helps children recognize their sounds, understand how they are played, and appreciate how musicians work together.
Orchestra Instruments for Kids
What are the four instrument families of the orchestra?
Just like you may look like some of your family members, instruments are divided into families according to how they make sound. The four traditional families are woodwind, brass, strings, and percussion.
Woodwinds
Woodwind instruments often have a reed. A reed is a small piece of wood used to make sound. Some woodwind instruments with reeds include saxophones, clarinets, and oboes. Woodwind instruments can also be made of wood, like a flute.
Brass
Brass instruments use a mouthpiece to create sound and are made mostly of brass. These instruments include the trumpet, Tuba, French horn, and slide trombone.
Strings
String instruments have strings. When the string is plucked or bowed, it vibrates and makes a sound. Low strings are thicker and longer, and high strings are shorter and thinner.
Percussion
Percussion instruments are any instruments that can be hit, shaken, or scraped. Percussion instruments include the drum set, djembe, bongo, triangle, maracas, and many others. Percussion instruments can have a pitch, like a xylophone, or not, like a djembe. Drummers still tune some of their drums, even though they aren't classified as pitched instruments. Examples of these percussion instruments that break the rules are toms, snare drum, kick, and djembe.
Keyboards
Keyboards as a family are not considered part of the traditional instrument families, but can be added as a modern practicality. Instrument families are categorized based on how their sound is made. A piano can be both a string and percussion instrument because the hammer "hits" the strings. Other keyboard instruments are the organ, clavichord, and harpsichord.
Electric Instruments
Electric instruments use electricity to make sound. Some popular electric instruments are electric guitars and basses, and electric keyboards.
What does Timbre mean?
Timbre (TAM-ber) is the unique sound or tone quality of a voice or instrument. It is what makes one instrument or voice sound different from another.
For example, if I play a maraca and then a triangle, you would probably know which instrument was which just by listening. That is because the two instruments are made of different materials and have different shapes and sizes. All of these things help create an instrument's unique timbre.
Help Winnie Rat Sort the Instruments by Family
Test your knowledge with Winnie's interactive orchestra game! Match instruments to the correct family and discover new sounds while learning about the orchestra.
More Instrument Family Activities
Instrument Sort Group Project
Do you have any extra instrument-family posters lying around?
- Break students into small groups and hand out a handful of instrument pictures/posters with names on them. (You may have to use tape to write the instrument names on some posters)
- Give students a clip board with a paper divided into four columns.
- Have students write the names of each family at the top of each column.
- In small groups, students will sort through the pictures and write down which family each instrument belongs to.
- Tally up how many instruments each group gets correct. Make it a game and give a prize to the group with the most correct answers. Remember, everyone is a winner! Take a bow for doing a great job!
Ready to Explore the Orchestra?
Learn about orchestra sections, seating, the conductor, and how orchestras changed over time with Winnie Rat.
Learn About the Orchestra With Winnie Rat
Download a Free Instrument Family Worksheet
Read the Story
"Winnie Rat and the Big Orchestra"
Winnie Rat can hardly wait for his class field trip to hear a live orchestra. But when he accidentally gets separated from his classmates, his unexpected adventure becomes an incredible journey through the orchestra. Along the way, Winnie meets musicians, explores the string, woodwind, brass, and percussion families, and learns what makes each instrument unique. By the end of his adventure, Winnie discovers the instrument that is just right for him.
Collect the Music Animals
Join the universe of The Music Animals and follow them on their adventures with these interactive products.
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Meet Winnie's Friends
