Crafting with Little Kids: Musical Shakers

Making noise seems to be a popular activity for most kids! My son loves music and making instruments out of just about anything. After three years of Music Together classes, his favorite instruments that he played with during class were the “kitchen instruments” which were metal cans and bowls, spoons, and bottles filled with beans for shaking. I thought it would be fun to make our own shaker bottles at home and was pleasantly surprised how much he enjoyed this activity. Filling the bottles with a funnel proved to be an activity that kept him occupied for a good 15 minutes (crafts here often take under ten minutes!)

This is a really easy craft project that can be made with household items you already have on hand. I reused two plastic bottles from cream and half and half from our local dairy where I buy milk, since they sell cute pint and half pint sizes that make perfect sized bottles for little hands. Empty plastic bottles from drinks, spices, or even plastic eggs work too. The important factor with the container is that it is plastic and the lid can be glued on securely to prevent a mess or choking hazard for babies in the home.

Materials:

• small plastic bottles with screw-on lids
• dried beans/peas/rice
• stickers for embellishment
• funnel
• small bowls or cups to hold beans
• spoon
• glue, such as gorilla glue

Directions:

If reusing plastic bottles, be sure they are thoroughly clean and dried before using for this craft. Explain to your child that they will be making musical shakers with bottles filled with beans. Set up the craft area with a cookie sheet or tray to catch stray beans. Set out small bowls or cups with the beans/peas/rice. We used a combination of dried black and white beans along with some brown rice. Each made a different sound!

Insert the funnel into one open bottle and let your child use the spoon or their hands to fill the bottle with beans. This was so much fun that my son kept asking for more beans to add to his bottle. Be sure to stop the bottle filling at or before the half way point so that there will be enough room for ample shaking. Screw on the lid. (Later when your child is not around, glue the lid on with gorilla glue or something similar to prevent a mess.)

Bottles can be embellished with stickers. If you trust your child to use Sharpie markers safely, they could be used as well. Regular markers tend to not work well on plastic bottles.

Turn on some music and get shaking!

You can find more crafts and other adventures with a preschooler on Diane’s blog Knitting Zeal.