Musical Madness - Rain Sticks — Wayne Wonder Children's Parties in Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire

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It's Tuesday lunchtime and it's time for another great idea, in fact it's a new month! June has arrived, Summer is here in the UK. As I write this it's 8ºC (46ºF) and raining. This kind of sums up why I started doing this blog. Im a making kind of person and love fiddling with things, I am also constantly looking up new ideas for my shows so after having my daughter I found myself coming up with loads of fun things to do at home. Plus as the weather is so pants in this country I think it's great to have a website like this that you can come back to and do something really fun at home.

This month's theme is Music, I love music, in fact I love pretty much every genre of music (much to my wife's despise). Riding in the car with me can sometimes be very odd with the music skipping between a genius like Yo-Yo Ma to Rap and underground Grime and then back to a new pop song etc. This year has been a very sad year with the loss of so many talented people. Not least of all, and one that really touched me was the passing of Prince. The reason I picked the colour purple to be part of my branding was because of him. I love his music and have done for many years, most of his albums (I want to say all but I haven't done my homework) were written, produced and performed by him, just one person. Compare this to Beyoncé's latest album with 73 different writers listed on it. Just for fun I have included a great little video of his I found recently, very rare to see him on stage on his own in just an acoustic set and you can see some of his brilliance. Most guitarists considered him one of the very best players to have ever lived.

I think children should be introduced to all sorts of music from very early on. Obviously you have to be careful with topics and language but that can be managed easily enough. I still will play some music for my daughter and ask her what instruments she can hear. This is a great topic to go into and you can research what different instruments look like, sound like and how they are played. There are tons of reasons to get kids into music, in fact I will go into more detail in future posts because I have babbled on long enough this week. Every week I am going to show how to make a different instrument. Let's go.

Rain Sticks

So, what is a rain stick? Traditional rain sticks are instruments made from dried cacti, thorns & pebbles. When held vertically, the falling pebbles sound similar to falling rain. It was believed they would bring a storm!

Paper Towel Roll
Washi Tape or patterned duct tape
Clear Sticky Tape
Corrugated Cardboard
PVA Glue
Popcorn Kernels, Rice &/or Lentils
Alphabet foam Stickers

Here’s how to make Washi Tape Rain Sticks!

First, cover one end of the roll in clear sticky tape. We used clear tape so we could see what was happening inside the roll.

Next, glue strips of corrugated cardboard to the inside of your roll. This is what gives the rain stick its distinct rain-like sound. Take an extra piece of the cardboard and fold it back and forth like an accordion and place it inside the tube.

We then got small handfuls of Popcorn Kernels, Rice & Lentils and poured them into the tube. Of course we just had to run our hands through them before adding them to the tube! You can add as little or as much as you like. We opted for a small amount, about ¼ full.

Cover the other end of your roll with clear sticky tape. Before decorating, cut short lengths of washi tape and stick them to the edge of the table. Now your ready to decorate your rain sticks! Stick the washi tape pieces all over the tube. We finished by adding our names with large foam letters. Before decorating, cut short lengths of washi tape and stick them to the edge of the table. Now your ready to decorate your rain sticks! Stick the washi tape pieces all over the tube. We finished by adding our names with large foam letters.

Author

Wayne Wonder is one of the UK's leading family entertainers, a multi award winning magician and balloon artist, he's also a published poet and father of one. As well as a few TV credits to his name Wayne has performed in three different countries. Wayne Wonder's Kids Club was only launched in 2014 and since then has changed dramatically. If you have found this blog helpful/interesting then please do let us know in the comments in below. Please do share these posts on your favourite social media too.

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