If you’ve followed our blog for a while (it would have to have been a long while!) you might remember that we made some simple toilet roll shakers when my girls were both in pre school. Now they are at big school, and we’ve made some cardboard tube shakers with longer paper towel rolls using the same basic technique. It just goes to show how musical crafts suit kids of all ages because they loved making these just as much the second time around! We also had a two year old staying with us (hence the preschool themed crafting session) and she loved them too and had a really good crack at making one herself. If you are like me and hoard duct tape and washi tape you’ll have everything you need to make these at home already:
You will need
• Paper towel rolls (or any long cardboard tube such as a glad wrap or alfoil inner roll)
• Duct tape and washi tape in assorted colours and patterns
• Milk bottle caps
• Rice, dried beans or similar to fill them with
• Markers – I have used permanent (sharpie) markers but for younger kids I’d go for the totally washable kids markers, they are fine for this purpose
• Scissors
How To
First you need to cut a piece of duct tape for the seal on the end and place the plastic bottle cap in the middle of it. Cut the tape in a sun shape around the lid as shown below, this is to stick the lid on neatly and avoid getting wrinkles and buckles in the tape – but it’s still hard to get it completely perfect as you can see in my attempt!
Stick a strip of tape over that and you have your shaker seal. Fill the shaker with rice, beans or similar (1-2 tablespoons is enough) and seal the other end the same way. Then you are ready to decorate.
Use the assorted duct and washi tape designs to create patterns on your shaker and fill the blank card in between with doodle patterns using the markers.
In no time you’ll have some groovy shakers!
Experiment with all of the different sounds you can make with these, shake them fast, slow and clap them together (gently – they are only made of cardboard).
So much fun! We keep our shakers in the kids’ music corner for random jamming sessions and play. They make a fabulous DIY toy!
More musical craft ideas
• Make some mini lid banjos using craft sticks and loom bands
• Create some groovy bottle cap shakers
• Make some gold ribbon dancing wands complete with jingle bells
• Or try making our original toilet roll shakers
You can also find DIY musical instruments for play and so much more on our craft and play board on Pinterest. Are you following us?
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