New Year’s Eve Shaker Wand for Kids

I know I’m not the only one thinking this, but how in the world is it the end of 2022? These days at home with little ones are somehow the fastest and slowest, hardest and best times of my life. I’m not sure what 2023 will bring, but 2022 had a lot of really great moments and accomplishments for our family!

With all the kids at home all day long right now, we desperately needed some structure and a creative outlet. With New Year’s Eve approaching, I thought it would be fun to do an activity to get in the celebratory spirit. Creating these noise maker wands provides so many great skill and sensory opportunities if you have the time, but can also be completed quickly with just a minute of prep work if you are running short on time or have a little one who doesn’t want a drawn out activity. It’s kind of a choose your own adventure activity.

We always have an empty paper towel or toilet paper roll in our house these days, so save your next empty one and make these shakers!

Here’s what you need

• Paper towel or toilet paper roll

• Scissors. We have these and these and use them both regularly.

• Tape, stapler, or glue

• Popsicle stick or skewer to make a handle

• Rice, popcorn, beans, or other hard sensory base

• Our free printable (available below) to decorate your wand. You could use markers, paint, or stickers if you prefer.

DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE SHAKER WAND PRINTABLE HERE

New Year's Eve Freebie

Set up

1-2 minutes

1. Print the free download (available above) and cut out the desired shapes. I included a few options, so you don’t have to use everything.

2. Gather your supplies and you are ready to start!

Clean up

1 minute

1. Vacuum or sweep any runaway rice or popcorn.

2. Pick up paper scraps.

The actual process of constructing the shakers can take 2-10 minutes, depending on your child’s attention to detail, attention span, and how much help you provide. I was looking to fill some space in our day, so I was pretty hands off and let the kids do almost everything on their own.

I’ll also note here that having a 1 year old nearby was not ideal. She wanted to eat the popcorn kernels, grab the scissors, and spill the rice, so please use caution with children under 2.

At 3 and 5 years old, both of the older kids really loved this activity! They got to decide how their shaker looked and how they wanted to construct it, which was a wonderful way to fill their power buckets during a hectic time of year where they have less control than normal. Plus, now we have these awesome shakers to help ring in the New Year!

This activity provided opportunities for:

• scissor skills

• scooping/transfer skills

• planning ahead/making a design

• fine motor skills with the tape and stapler

• creativity!

That’s a lot of great things from a simple piece of paper and paper towel roll!

Here are the steps to make the shakers

1. Flatten your paper towel or toilet paper roll and close on one side with tape or staples. We used 5-6 staples for each end and that kept rice in without any leaking. I did not have time for regular glue, but hot glue is another option if you do not have a 1-year-old grabbing everything.

2. Add your handle/stick to the open end of the paper towel roll and secure to the inside of the paper towel roll with tape or glue. We opted for tape because we were going for easy, not longevity.

3. Add your decorations! Use the free printable or markers, stickers, and ribbons. Decorate one or both sides using glue or tape to attach anything you wish.

4. Add rice, popcorn, or both into the tube. Be sure to fill no more than halfway, as adding too much will mute the shaking ability and dampen the fun sound.

5. Staple or glue the open end shut. I was able to staple around the popsicle stick without any issues.

6. Optional- gently squeeze the sides of your paper towel roll to unflatten it just slightly. This will create more space in the roll for the rice to move around and give more shaking sounds.

One final note on these shakers- it’s completely OK if it looks like your kid made them! They do not need to be picture perfect. Doing an activity like this with kids is about the process and experience. They will love the quality time and deposit into their attention bucket. I usually find that their moods are improved after we spend time doing something creative and process oriented, which is an added bonus for me!

We usually do a countdown of some sort with the kids after dinner on New Year’s Eve and I will most likely take a 9pm nap if I have any chance of being awake when the ball drops. Do you have any fun plans to welcome in a new year? Drop a comment below and let me know so I can live vicariously through you from my couch.

As we wrap up 2022, I want to thank you for being here. Every click, comment, like, read, and share means so much to me and I appreciate all of your support. I look forward to bringing you more ideas and connecting with you in the coming year. Cheers!

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