My 3.5 year old is starting Suzuki Violin lessons tomorrow. I am extremely excited. Since he is young he will start on a "box" while he learns how to handle a violin without dropping it. You have two main options for starting a young child. 1) Buy a
"Foam-a-lin" a violin shaped piece of foam. Kind of cool I guess but for almost $20 I will go with option two. 2) A Box violin. These are extremely cheap and easy to make. I'd estimate mine cost about $1. And took 10 minutes. Could take less time if you weren't taking pictures between every step.
Materials Needed:
VHS (you know the thing that came before DVD)
Tape
Scissors
Paper (I used a brown paper bag)
Ruler (like the kind you use in elementary school)
Step 1: Cut paper to the appropriate size.
Step 2: "Gift-wrap" VHS.
Step 3: Tape Ruler onto Front of VHS. Leave about 6 inches hanging over. (Secure this pretty well, remember it will be dropped.)
And that's it! You can add some Foam and an elastic to simulate a shoulder pad.
Now. If you give a child a box violin, he will also want a bow to go with it.
Materials needed:
Dowel
Eraser
Tape
Step 1: Tape Eraser onto Dowel. Leave about 1 inch of the dowel on one side.
Nothing left to do but try it out.
Update: So my daughter loves playing on the box violin too. Can't help but post a picture of her too.