Simple and Creative DIY Wind Chimes

Crafted lovingly by hand, homemade wind chimes convert gusts of wind into a delightful chorus of soothing, melodic tones. This symphony of sound, ever-changing and never repeated, creates a sense of tranquillity like nothing else.

Imagine, for a moment, the pleasure when the wind chimes tinkling in the breeze are ones you’ve crafted with your very own hands. Making DIY or recycled wind chimes is filled with whimsy, mirth, and the pure, unadulterated joy of creating something beautiful and enchanting from scratch.

Let’s take a waltz through the wonderful world of wind chimes.

Put simply, wind chimes are a type of percussion instrument made from differently shaped pieces of metal or wood. These pieces are hung together and when they’re blown by the wind, they strike together, creating an eclectic variety of musical sounds.

Homemade wind chime craft has a long and rich history. It’s believed that the earliest archaeological wind chime finds from Southeast Asia were made from bone, wood and bamboo and they date back almost 5,000 years. It’s thought that some cultures used them to ward off evil spirits and, more practically, to scare birds away from crops.

In ancient Rome, wind chimes were known as tintinnabulum and were often in the shape of animals. Many parts of Asia considered them to be symbols of good luck. The Japanese even made wind chimes from glass, known as fūrin, around the start of the seventeenth century.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at how to make wind chimes.

When it comes to DIY wind chimes, there’s a host of options and ideas to explore. You can experiment with materials, play with lengths and sizes to alter sounds and add personal touches that hold significance. Below you’ll find seven ideas for DIY wind chimes to consider.

And just a quick word of caution. Some of the homemade wind chimes below require the use of paint, glue, drills and other items from the toolbox, so be careful and make sure an adult is present who can undertake these tasks.

One of the easiest DIY wind chimes to make at home uses old keys. All you need is a stick or a coat hanger which you can paint in a variety of bright colours, and then suspend different keys using coloured string. Try and use a variety of different keys to make a range of tones, like yale keys, mortice keys, even old suitcase, car or padlock keys. The most important part of this particular homemade wind chime craft is that the keys are old and no longer open any current doors in or around your home or car.

Sea shells come in all shapes and sizes so when they collide, they make a spectacular symphony of distinct sounds. You’ll need to make very small holes in the shells, so when you’re making DIY recycled wind chimes like this, ensure an adult undertakes this process. String them all up together – as many as you want on each piece of string – and like the keys, tie them to a stick or a coat hanger.

Many of us used our pencils as drumsticks at school, so it’s logical that we should make DIY wind chimes from them! You can even use a ruler to suspend them from. You can suspend different coloured pencils from it using small lengths of wire. For a nice aesthetic look, use the longest pencils for the middle and then make them progressively shorter.

Upcycled or recycled DIY wind chimes are a fun and sustainable way of using old or discarded children’s toys. For example, you could make a wind chime from an old xylophone. All you have to do is remove the keys and suspend them from a metal base with string or beaded metal chains for a cool industrial vibe.

This might be a bit of an unusual suggestion (and please ask before you start raiding the kitchen cupboards!) but using old or unwanted kitchen utensils is a great option for a DIY wind chime. In fact, how to make wind chimes doesn’t get much easier than this! Use a colander as the base and then you can suspend any type of utensils you please. Wooden spoons and servers make more of a relaxing noise, but if you’re looking for maximum crash, metal ladles, whisks, spoons and other kitchenalia are lots of fun and make for a real talking point in your garden!

One of the classic homemade wind chimes is to use three or four ceramic or terracotta plant pots of descending size. Most plant pots have a drainage hole in the bottom so there’s no need to get the drill out. Suspend the largest at the top and then in descending order of size, suspend the smaller one inside the larger one so when they gently bash together, they act like bells. They look great hung from a garden hook or even in place of hanging baskets.

This is a hark back to the ancient days of making DIY wind chimes. You can usually buy bamboo canes in your local garden centre. When you get them home, get an adult to cut them into different lengths. Each length will produce a slightly different sound. Paint the pieces of bamboo in bright and vibrant colours and using something like a stick or even another piece of painted bamboo to suspend them from, tie them on and wait for the wind! Striking bamboo is one of nature’s most enigmatic noises.

Homemade wind chime craft offers a unique opportunity to blend artistic expression, historical reverence, and a touch of whimsical fun. We’ve explored seven distinctive ideas, from the nostalgic tones of old keys to the rhythmic clatter of kitchen utensils, each idea offers a delightful experience, not only in their melodic end results but in the process of crafting them.