Crafty Kids Project – Rainsticks

What are rainsticks?

According to Wikipedia a rainstick is a long, hollow tube which is filled with small baubles such as beads or beans and has small pins or thorns arranged helically on its inside surface. When the stick is upended, the beads fall to the other end of the tube, making a sound reminiscent of a rainstorm as they bounce off the pins.

What you need to make your own rainstick:

* A tube of some sort… like a wrapping paper tube or even better, a mailing tube.
* Nails or tacs
* Paint
* Beans, pebbles, or rice

I did this project with my own kids not to long ago and we hammered a couple dozen, small nails into our cardboard mailing tubes, then we filled them with a cup or so of rice, tested to hear the lovely sounds they made, and painted with Tempura paints. Here are some pictures. The kids are quite proud of their rainsticks and we had a blast making them. They are out trying to invoke the rain spirits right now!

If you have any mailing tubes laying around this is a great way to recycle them. The other ingredients are pretty cheap if you are looking for budget crafts and toys.

Here is a video with a bit of a history lesson on rainsticks. Enjoy!

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