Paper Towel Roll Maracas for Youngsters

Kids love making music, but you don't have to invest a lot of money in musical instruments, especially if your kids are young. Little kids who are just discovering music will have lots of fun playing with homemade maracas you create from a paper towel or toilet paper roll.

It's really easy to make the maracas. Cut a paper towel roll into sections the size of a bath tissue roll, or just use a bathroom tissue roll to make the maracas. The paper towel roll allows you to make more than one. That's great if you have more than one child or if your child wants maracas with different sounds.

Cut two disk shapes from cardboard. The disks should be the size of the opening of the paper towel roll. Use tape to affix one disk to one end of the bath tissue or paper towel roll. Tape is perfect for holding the noisemakers inside of the roll, and when you're finished with the project, the tape will not show.

Fill the roll with rice. Filling the entire roll will keep the rice from swishing around inside so fill only about half full. Tape the second disk of cardboard over the hole to keep the rice inside. Now when kids shake the roll the rice will create music kids will love.

Fake fur is ideal for covering the paper towel roll. Cut two circles of fur and glue them onto the ends of the maracas. Now cut a piece of fur that will wrap all the way around the roll. Glue it in place and trim if necessary. Fur works great because it makes it easy to hide the seams and kids love the look and feel of the fur.

Different objects, placed inside the rolls, will create different sounds. Make one set containing rice and another set containing bells. Small bells, sold at craft stores, create a different type of musical sound. Other things you can use to make music with the paper towel roll include dry peas or beans, beads, old necklaces and bracelets or even sand. Each item will create a different type of music so make several and let your child create all sorts of sounds.