Materials
- Paper towel tubes or other long cardboard
- tubes, one per child
- Thin cardboard or poster board
- Scissors
- Masking tape
- Nails or straight pins
- Hammer
- Tiny pebbles
- Colored tissue paper
- Liquid starch
- Cup
- Paintbrush
- Yarn
- Glue
What to do
1. Ahead of time, cut cardboard into circles that will fit on the end of the tubes.
2. When you are ready to begin, have the children place a cardboard circle over one end of the tube. Help them tape it securely.
3. Under your supervision, have the children insert straight pins into the tube. Older children can hammer nails into the tube, especially one with a thicker consistency.
4. When the pins are in place, ask the children to pour some of the tiny pebbles into the tube.
5. Help the children close the tube by placing another cardboard circle over the open end and securing it with tape.
6. When the tube is secure, have the children cover the pins with masking tape.
7. Supply the children with liquid starch, a paintbrush, and tissue paper squares. Invite the children
8. Let the tubes dry.
9. Afterward, invite the children to decorate the rain sticks with yarn, if they choose.
More to do
- Movement: Gather the children in a circle and make a rainstorm together; have them mimic your motions, each for about a half-minute: rub your hands together, then snap your fingers, clap your hands, slap your knees, and stomp your feet. After the storm reaches a crescendo, make the motions in reverse order until the storm is over and the room is quiet.
- Music: Create sound cylinders by placing various objects in juice cans and sealing the cans with tape; wrap the cans in contact paper to decorate. to cover the tube with the squares, attaching them with starch.
-Melissa J. Browning, Milwaukee, WI
