How to Make a Rain Stick

1.Making a rain stick is a fun project you can do with your children. If you are not familiar with rain sticks, they are a stick that when turned upside down make the sound of rain falling. We decided on this project because our son needed to make a musical instrument for a class project.

Here is a list of supplies you will need:

*School glue or/ hot glue gun
*Cardboard tube/ can be purchased from an office supply store
*Construction paper
*Wooden screwers/ can be purchased at grocery store
*Dry rice
*Paint
*Small drill
*Wire snips

2.The first step is to poke holes all around the perimeter of the tube. We used a drill with a small bit. It is not nesesary to line up the holes exactly. You do not want the holes to be larger then the diameter of your wooden screwers, because you want the screwers to fit as tightly as possible.

3.After the holes have been made, you want to stick the screwers through one side of the tube to the other. It is best to make a star pattern with the screwers on the inside of the tube. Start at the bottom and work your way up to the top.

This pattern will slow the rice down as it falls from the top to bottom when the stick is turned upside down. Because the rice falls slowly, it creates the sound of rain. The more screwers you use the better the sound will be, so take your time at this point.

4.Once all the screwers are in place you will need to cut the excess off. We used wire snips. Cut as close to the tube as possible. You do not want too much sticking out because the sticks could poke through the paper in the next step.

If your holes are a little bigger than the screwers you will want to glue them in place. You can use school glue or a hot glue gun to keep them in place. If your screwers fit tightly you can skip this step.

5.Now that all the screwers are in place it is time to seal up the top and bottom of the tube. If your tube came with lids you can use these, otherwise you will want to make your own, (use cardboard and cut a circle the same diameter as the tube and glue in place).

First glue the bottom lid of the tube on. Next you pour the dry rice into the top of the tube. Depending on the size of your rain stick, you may want to use a cup to two cups of dry rice. After your rice has been poured in then you glue on the top lid.

6.Lastly, you will want to cover your tube with paper. You can use construction paper or packaging paper. Brush glue all along the sides of the tube. Next just roll your paper around the tube to cover.

Once the paper has dried you can then decorate and paint your rain stick. You will be amazed by the wonderful sound your rain stick will make. This is a great learning project for children and a lot of fun to make.