Tag Archives: green crafts for kids

Easiest Instruments For Young Children – Recycled Rattles

Screen shot 2014-07-07 at 1.00.10 PMThere’s a reason you find rattles in almost every culture around the globe.

They are amazingly simple and very powerful at the same time.  A child playing a rattle becomes aware of how his or her movements change the sound they are making.  They realize how the sound they create can “fit” with a beat and most studies of young children show that they are keenly aware of rhythmic patterns.  Making and playing several varieties of homemade rattles can be a great way to explore music and have fun with a young child at the same time.

Recycled Rattles for Home or Classroom Play

 

Rattles made from gourds, seeds, feathers and a donkey's jawbone

Rattles made from gourds, seeds, feathers and a donkey’s jawbone

Most early rattles were made of materials such as dried gourds, seashells, clay, coconuts, bark and a variety of other natural objects.  In Africa, caxixi rattles are made from woven fiber.  In India, special rattles are made from colorful palm fronds woven together in clever patterns.  On the coast of Peru there’s even a rattle made from the jawbone of a donkey.  In short, people make instruments from materials that they have found available near their home.  We are going to take that same approach to creating recycled rattles!

Clean and dry a variety of small plastic containers (water bottles, juice containers, etc.) and assemble some objects that can serve as the contents of the rattles. Here’s a list of common materials that work well and the type of sound they create:

NORWESCAP the tableQuiet rattles: sand, salt, sugar, confetti, cotton balls, craft puff balls, paper bits, Q-tips, tiny pasta (such as pastina or acine de pepe).

Medium Rattles:  paper clips, small pebbles, birdseed, small beads, small dried beans, rice, smaller buttons.

Loud Rattles:  dried macaroni/pasta, large pebbles, large beads, coins, large dried beans, larger buttons.

The Inside of the Rattle

Choose the objects you’d like to add to the rattle to create the sound and also consider including some decorative elements.  Since plastic containers are transparent, you can easily add confetti, glitter, colorful ribbon, pipe-cleaners or similar items. They won’t alter the sound but they will add color, beauty and interest when the rattle is being played.

alphabet shekere 2The Outside of the Rattle

If you like, you can decorate the outside of the rattle with stickers, markers or add a handle made from pipe-cleaner, yarn or ribbon.  Feel free to get creative.  When you’re done, it’s time to seal it with some sturdy tape, such as electrical tape.  This helps keep the contents inside and generally makes it more child-safe around young music-makers.

Now you’re ready to have fun with your rattle!

Time To Play!

Peru_Preschool_ShakureShake along while you sing one of your favorite songs. Try playing slowly and shaking your rattle to the beat.  Then speed up the song. Can you keep up and keep in time?  Play along with recorded music.  Listen to different types of music and see how your rattle fits in with the music being played.

An Easy Rattle Game For Young Children

If everyone in a class or a small group has made a rattle, you try this easy game.

Ask the children to play a certain way until the music stops.  For instance, the teacher can say: “Shake your rattle softly until the music stops”.  The teacher stops the recorded music (like in a game of musical chairs) at an unexpected place and sees if all the students were able to stop at the same time.  Next, change the directions to other simple ways to play, such as:

Shake your rattle back and forth until the music stops.
Shake your rattle up and down until the music stops.
Shake your rattle round and round until the music stops.
Shake your rattle very softly until the music stops.
Shake your rattle loudly until the music stops.
Shake your rattle down low until the music stops.
Shake your rattle up high until the music stops.
Shake your rattle quickly until the music stops.
Shake your rattle slowly until the music stops.

Aside from this one game, there are lots of other ways you can make music and have fun with a rattle while you are learning, playing and recycling – all at the same time!

Here Are Some Variations On Rattle Crafts:

Monster Rattles – From Egg Cartons
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/HALLOWEEN-MUSICAL-RATTLE-BASED-ON-PERUVIAN-QUIJADA-1146672

Make Your Own African Coffee Can Drum – https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Make-Your-Own-African-Drum-Craft-3507618

chapchas (3) on red backgroundMake Your Own Maracas – https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Latin-American-Intruments-Make-Your-Own-Maracas-142802

MYO Chapchas- Goat Toe-Nail Rattlers from South America – https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Chapchas-A-Unique-Rattle-From-Latin-America-1426778

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Easiest Instruments For Young Children – The Guiro!

The guiro is a perfect “first instrument” to share with young children.  It’s incredibly simple and versatile at the same time.  In a matter of minutes, a child can be exploring the sounds created by the guiro and making rhythms by rubbing the rasp back and forth or up and down along the surface of the guiro.

What Is A Guiro?

Although you can find similar instruments all over the world, a guiro is an instrument with Latin American roots that was originally made from wood, bone or gourds carved to have a ridged surface.  In the picture above you can see a bone guiro from Mexico, a wooden version and a homemade guiro made from a recycled plastic water bottle.  Some modern guiros are made of plastic or metal as well.

homemade guiro and 6 raspsPlay A Guiro With A Rasp

To play a guiro you rub an object across the ridges on the surface of your instrument.  Older guiros often have sharp metal rasps so it can be useful to substitute more child-safe choices.  Here are some fun ways to create sound on a guiro.  They include hair picks, plastic spoons/forks/sporks, chopsticks, an egg whisk or an unsharpened pencil.  Each will create a slightly different sound when used to play the guiro.

Make A Simple Guiro

Since it’s unlikely that you have the perfect dried gourd or an old bone lying around your house, start this musical craft in your recycling bin.  Sort through the plastic bottles to see if you have one that has ridges and is sturdy enough to use in this project.

Although your plastic bottle guiro is ready to play “as is”, you can also add some decoration inside the bottle and seal it up before you begin to play. You can look for things like confetti or colorful paper shreds.  Or you can choose to add objects that will make the bottle work as a rattle as well.  To make a guiro that doubles as a rattle, add a small amount of any on-hand material such as bird seed, beads, pebbles or dried beans, rice or pasta.

paper shred guiroIf you’ve add anything to the inside, it’s a good idea to seal the bottle with a strong tape; such as electrical tape, so the contents will stay inside and keep the bottle from being opened when played.  You might even want to attach your rasp to the guiro with some colorful ribbon or yarn as in the example here

Play Your Guiro!

You’ve probably already figured this out!  The guiro is played by scraping back and forth or up and down along the ridges.  You can put on some of your favorite music and let your child experiment with what sounds good to them.  Or you can learn some basic rhythms together with your child.  Here are some fun ways to begin.

Try playing along with a whole song by just scraping down or by just scraping up.

Try playing along with a song by scraping: down/up, down/up, down/up.

Try playing along with a song by scraping:

down/up – down/up/down…, down/up – down/up/down…

Discover the patterns that sound good to your ear or write a new song to go along with a rhythm you’ve just discovered.  If you start with this simple and clever little instrument, there’s no telling how much creative musical fun you can have!

Related Links:

See, Hear and Color A Guiro Here:

http://www.dariamusic.com/guiro.php

Play Along With A Bilingual Version of La Cucaracha here: