Make some noise
For this you will need:
- A snack tube or a long cardboard tube (such as used for kitchen foil), or a few if you want to experiment with different noises;
- Glue;
- Lentils, rice, dried peas, dried kidney beans or any other dried pulse;
- Sheets of paper or card; and
- Blunt round ended scissors.
How to make:
- Make sure the bottom ot the tube is sealed by either gluing on the lid - if you are using a snack tube - or cutting out circles of card/paper (approximately 15mm larger in circumference than the tube it self) and glue the card/paper circle to the tube. If using paper we would recommend using more than 1 sheet of paper. Let the glue dry thoroughly, so may be best to prepare this the night before.
- Fill the tube about 1/4 full of rice, or lentils, or other dried pulses.
- Seal the open end of the tube in the same way as you did for the other end.
Tip the tube from side to side to hear the rice fall. Talk to your child about the sound it makes.
If you have made more than one rainmaker fill it with different size beans. Talk to your child about the different sounds each rainmaker makes.
For a different activity on another day, you can decorate the tube by painting or cutting out paper shapes and sticking on to the tube.
Never leave your child alone leaving the dried pulses in their reach – children love putting things in their mouths, or in their ears or dare we say it up their noses.