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The Craft Train

Crafty ideas for kids and parents

You are here: Home / Crafts and Activities / General Crafts / How to make a shaker

How to make a shaker

August 26, 2019 By Kate 5 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 10 minute paper roll shaker is a fun musical instrument craft for preschoolers which they can make themselves with a little bit of help.
We originally shared this DIY musical shaker back in 2013 – my kids are now much bigger! *sob*. I’ve decided to reshare it for our readers today.
 
Easy toilet roll shakers you can make in 10 minutes at home from recyclables. Such a fun, quick and easy craft idea that is also a DIY toy. #shakers #preschool #kidscrafts #musicalinstrument #diymusicalinstrument #craftykids #paperrolls #cardboardtubes #recyclingcrafts #toiletrolls #thecrafttrain
 
One day my daughter came home from pre-school showing off a fancy toilet roll shaker she had made. She danced around the house shaking it with a huge smile on her face for quite a while.
 
Her sister goes to the same pre school but is in a different class and didn’t get to make a shaker, so quite understandably she was green with envy.
 
Fights ensued and I’m sure you get the picture without further details. To keep her happy we decided to make some more shakers, but we did ours a little bit differently to the pre school versions (however beautiful they were).
 
Seriously, you can make these in 10 mins or less with items you likely have on hand. The best part is they are made mostly from recycled materials.
 

We tried filling our shakers with different things to experiment with different sounds. What nose does coffee beans make, compared with rice, compared with dried lentils?


 

How to make a shaker

recycled craft materials needed to make DIY shakers

You will need

  • Toilet rolls (1 per shaker). Paint them beforehand for coloured shakers.
  • Duct or electrical tape (the thin kind)
  • Milk bottle caps (2 per shaker)
  • Sharpie markers
  • Dried beans, rice, coffee beans or similar to make the shaking sound
  • Paints if desired, although they aren’t really necessary

How to

Stick a milk bottle cap on to the end of a toilet roll with electrical (or duct) tape.

Fill your toilet roll with the dried beans (we used coffee beans and rice in ours).

Tape another lid on to the other end of the toilet roll enclosing the beans. Make patterns by adding extra stripes of tape in another colour..

Finish it off by decorating in between the tape gaps with a black marker.

The kids can help out with these and make their own patterns.

You’re done! now all you need to do is ….

Shake & dance!

More DIY musical instruments kids can make

Make a mini banjo from a recycled jar lid

How many instruments can you make from a paper cup?

Make some mini shakers from duct tape and bottle caps

These jingly ribbon dancers are so quick and easy to make!

How to make a shaker – easy instructions with step by step photos #preschool #kidscrafts #diytoy #musicalinstrument #craftandplay #playmatters #recyclingcrafts #shakers #paperrolls #cardboardtubes #toiletrollcrafts #thecrafttrain

 
 
 
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Comments

  1. 1

    Darlene says

    June 18, 2015 at 4:19 am

    Hi Kate. Love your tp roll project. We would be delighted if you would stop by the Creative Challenge party and link up your shakers. This month’s challenge is to creative something form toilet paper rolls. Hope to see you there. Best wishes, Darlene

    Reply
  2. 2

    Maria says

    October 25, 2020 at 3:06 am

    Hi! Is there a trick to getting the milk caps on? Mine seem to be too small to fit on the toilet paper rolls

    Reply
    • 3

      Kate says

      October 25, 2020 at 6:33 am

      This is tricky because paper rolls vary in width, and probably so do bottle caps. Ours didn’t slide neatly over the edge of the rolls though, they lined up with them (at about the same width) and I taped them on

      Reply
      • 4

        Huzaifa says

        April 28, 2021 at 12:26 pm

        Use some cardboard for the ends. Cut out big or small circles and tape them one at the ends of the toilet paper rolls.

        Reply
        • 5

          Kate says

          May 2, 2021 at 6:48 am

          Great idea, that would make a different sound too

          Reply

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  • Kate GronoKate GronoCrazy Craft Fanatic

    I’m basically a big kid who never grew up and still loves to muck around with paint, glitter, glue and toilet rolls. With the crafts shared here on this website I’m hoping to give other parents and carers inspiration to get crafty with their kids at home – make our projects, or use them as a source of inspiration to spark ideas of your own. When it comes to crafting no rules apply!

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