DIY Baby Rain Stick

I have always had an eye for creating fun things for kids as a preschool teacher, and now that I am a mommy, I have been anxiously awaiting Ava to "come of age" for some DIY toys from household items!

We recently emptied a roll of paper towels, and my instinct was to just throw the empty roll away. 

But I stopped myself.

What can I make with this?

A baby rainstick!

It's not fancy by any means, but my baby loves it!

Here's What You'll Need:

Empty paper towel roll (or a toilet paper roll)

Clear packing tape

Jingle bells (or other fillers - see below)

Tissue paper

Here's What to Do:

1. Begin by taping one end of the paper roll closed. You will want to fold the tape over itself so the items inside won't stick to the tape. Tape well so the contents will not come out.
2. Fill your paper roll with the jingle bells. And by fill, I mean toss a few in. There really doesn't need to be that many "noisemakers" in there, especially if it is for a baby. It will be too heavy to manipulate! If you are making this for a toddler or older child, feel free to add more in!
3. Now you can tape the other end closed in the same way you did the first.
4. Next, pull a long piece of tape and scatter tissue paper clippings on it, and press lengthwise onto your paper roll.
5. Continue placing long strips of tape with tissue paper on it until all the cardboard is covered. 

If you are making this for a baby, be sure there are no exposed "pointy" folds of tape around the ends. It doesn't have to be completely smooth because baby will most likely enjoy mouthing and feeling these little bumps and imperfections.

Now let the little one play with it!

**Please be sure to supervise your child while they play with any homemade toy. Parts can still be bitten off and possibly swallowed.**

You can easily mix this up by using other items instead of jingle bells (I just had some left over from a Christmas Sensory Bottle project...it was a complete bust because the water turned really murky!)

Other Fillings You Can Use:

dry rice (the original homemade rainstick filling)

dry beans

dry pasta

beads

sequins

bobby pins

paper clips

...or practically anything else you have around the house!

It would be a fun science project for older kids to experiment with different types and amounts of fillings to see how that affects the sounds it makes and how heavy it is! (feathers?! cotton balls?!)

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You may be wondering about why I've chosen to have little hearts covering my baby's face. I don't want her image to be all over Google, or copied and used by anyone else. I don't want her showing up on some random website, and as much as I would love to overload my blog with pictures of her (because she is really adorable!), I want to maintain a certain level of privacy and anonymity due to the fact that this is a completely public blog.