Materials · crisp cans (Pringles-type) · nails · light hammer · tissue paper · glue · markers · masking tape · rice or beans 1. The crisp tins and the paper tubes have a spiral seam. Use a marker to draw dots about half an inch apart, all the way down the spiral seam of the tube. 2. Poke a nail all the way in at each dot. (Make sure the nails don't poke through the other side of the tube.) The number of nails that you need will vary. 3. Wrap tape around the tube to hold the nails in place and to make sure the children can't pull them out when playing them. 4. Put a handful of rice or beans (or a mix of both) into the open end of the tube. Cover the open end with your hand, and turn the tube over. Add more rice or beans until you like the sound. (Beans will make a harder sound, and rice will make a softer sound.) 5. Put the lid on the tube and secure with tape. a. For a longer stick, tape two tins together at the open ends. It is trickier getting the sound just right using this method, but with patience and a sense of humour when the beans spill out, you can get the right sound in time. 6. Decorate the outside of the rain stick with corrugated card or tissue paper. Have fun with this step. a. Or, if you prefer, use paper mache to make the rainstick look more like a hollowed out stick. You can be very creative here, adding fabric for texture, or incorporating natural elements to the skin of the tins. Keep in mind that the more you do to treat the outside, the more beans or rice you may need to add to compensate for the increased width on the “skin” of the rainstick. 7. Your rain stick is finished. Let dry, the turn it over and listen to the rain.
that sounds like so much fun! I'm totaly gonna try it at home, and then maybe do it with the kids at the pre-school I teach at, they'd love that, especially on a rainy day!
I have made my own rainstick. I used a long poster tube. It was nice and thick like what you ship posters in. The sound is awesome then I paper mached it. I made it at camp like 10 years ago and I still use it Thanks for bringing back great memories cerridwen! Have fun crafting
i remember rain sticks! we have a real one (a thin really cool smooth log with little bumps and holes in it) i gotta go find that
i love rainsticks.....used to be this little shop here in Cincy where they had like thousands of em 4 sale.....i used to love to chill in that spot, just walk around, finding all the koolest stix and turn em over.....man, some of em were beautiful
