Rain stick

Help your child make his own version of a rain stick.

You'll Need

  • Mailing tube
  • 2 paper plates
  • Packing tape
  • 1-inch nails
  • Assortment of sound makers (nails, popcorn kernals, sand, beans, etc.)
  • Decorations (colored paper, foam stickers, ribbon, glitter glue, etc.)

Time

45 minutes

Learning Stages

Traditionally, rain sticks are made of hollow cactus stalks with thorns pushed through to the inside, then filled with pebbles. The pebbles bouncing against the thorns makes the sound of rain. 

Help your child make his own version of a rain stick:

  1. Trace the end of the tube onto the paper plates, and cut out the circles. These circles will be the caps on the ends of your rainstick.
  2. Poke nails into the tube at various places, all the way up and down the tube.
  3. Fill the mailing tube with a couple handfuls of "noise" items.
  4. Seal the tube tightly with the paper plate circles and packing tape.
  5. Decorate the outside of the tube, covering nail heads with foam stickers.

When finished, move the tube slowly from side to side, up and down. Listen to the noise it makes. Encourage your child to experiment with ways to create different sounds with the rain stick.