My plan
Fun Littles

Fun and easy kids activities

Homemade Fall Maracas

Sep 11, 201412,710 views
Nature crafts
Fall crafts: Homemade fall maracas Save
fall crafts maracas Save
fall crafts s using dried fall leaves Save
dried fall leaves in water bottles Save
fine motor activities with fall leaves Save
kids having with maracas Save

by TurkeyMom in Nature crafts

Ages2–5 yrs
Prep5 min
Activity20 min
Leveleasy
MessMedium
Works for1:1 · Small group · Class

Kids fill empty plastic water bottles with crunchy dried fall leaves, twigs and pods to make shakers, then decorate them with silk leaves. It's a simple fine-motor, sound-exploring nature craft made from recycled materials.

⚠️ Safety first

  • Leaf bits, small twigs and pods are choking hazards. Supervise toddlers closely and watch for mouthing.
  • Adult screws the bottle cap on tightly before shaking. For young children, consider gluing or taping the cap shut.
  • Use clean, dry leaves and wash hands after handling outdoor leaves, twigs and pods.
  • If gluing on silk leaves, an adult chooses a kid-safe glue and supervises.

Before the kids arrive

  • Collect fall leaves, small twigs and pods, and let the leaves dry until crunchy.
  • Rinse and dry empty water bottles from the recycle stash, one per child.

Steps

  1. Lay out the dried fall leaves and the empty bottles on a tray.

  2. Break the stalks off the leaves and drop them into the bottle.

  3. Crumble leaves into bits and push them through the opening. Try squishing a whole leaf in too.

  4. Add a few small twigs and pods.

  5. Stop before the bottle is full. The leaves need room to make their sounds.

  6. Adult: screw the cap on tightly.

  7. Optional: glue a few colorful silk fall leaves onto the outside.

  8. Shake the maracas, dance and make music!

Tips

  • It is better to find a bottle without ridges for better visibility. If you are going to decorate the maraca, it doesn't matter.from the author
  • We learned that dried leaf bits made more noise than a dried whole leaf.from the author
  • Partially green leaves do not make noise, so use the crunchy dry ones.from the author
  • Don't fill the bottle all the way with leaves. They need some room to make those fun sounds.from the author
  • So much learning happens just filling the bottles: breaking off stalks, crumbling leaves and squishing whole leaves through the opening is great fine-motor practice.from the author
  • The idea came from leftover leaves: my almost 3 year old shook the bag and said it sounded like maracas.from the author
  • A reader loved that the craft uses all recycled and natural materials.from readers

Make it your own

  • Make one bottle with leaf bits and one with whole leaves, then compare which is louder.
  • Try a bottle of partially green leaves to hear the difference.
  • Leave the bottle undecorated so kids can see the leaves inside, or cover it with glued-on silk leaves.

The story behind it

By TurkeyMom · September 2014
materials needed
I found a couple of empty water bottles from our recycle stash and laid out all the dried fall leaves and the bottles in a tray. Tip: bottles without ridges show the leaves better.
1 / 8

Homemade Fall Maracas: the original post

It is that time of the year when I complain about living in a season less city. Last year during fall we picked up ourselves and had fun with so many fall crafts fall wreath, big fall tree, propeller bugs and many more. You can take a look at all our fall crafts by visiting us category page. This post is our first one of the many fall crafts we have for the season.

Musical fall craft using a bottle and leaves

Last week we did a fantastic fall play recipes series with a few fellow bloggers. For our nature theme we did these beautiful fall sensory jars.. We had so many leaves left over and I kept finding my kids shaking them and playing and giggling. My almost 3 year old said “mom this bag sounds like maracas”. Of course! That’s the birth of this fall craft. I found a couple of empty water bottles from our recycle stash. Tip: It is better to find a bottle without ridges for better visibility. If you are going to decorate the maraca doesn’t matter. materials needed I invited the kids to create their own musical maracas. I laid out all the dried fall leaves and the bottles in a tray.My toddler knew exactly what to do and got about busy. Talk about some practicing her fine motor skills!. We started filling up the bottles with the leaves. So much learning and creating was going during the simple process of filling up the bottles it was pure joy to watch those. She first started breaking off the stalks from the leaves and putting them inside the bottle. fine motor activities with fall leaves

She tried breaking the leaves into bits and then added the leaves. She tried adding the whole leaf ad tried to squish it through the opening. We also learned that dried leaf bits made more noise than dried whole leaf. The kids also added small twigs and pods. dried fall leaves in water bottles

We also learned that the partially green leaves do not make noise. The girls thought that the leaves filled bottle was beautiful. Don’t you think?

fall crafts using recycle materials

We did not fill up the bottle all the way with leaves. The leaves need some room to make those fun sounds.

fall crafts s using dried fall leaves

We even glued on a few a few colorful silk fall leaves. The same leaves we used in our fall sensory jars and fall sensory bin.

music instruments

Time to shake the maracas and make music.

fall crafts maracas

Oh the kids! They both had grand time with the maracas, shaking, dancing and just going crazy

kids having with maracas

Thanks for reading

homemade maracas from Blog Me Mom

What readers say

💬 4 comments ✍️ 1 answered by the author

🎉 Worked for us

Loved the recycled, natural materials

A reader liked how easy and fun the craft is, and that it uses only recycled and natural materials. She pinned it to try.

“I love that this craft uses all recycled and natural materials!”
Lisa @ The Wellness Wife, Oct 2014

Tried it?

Reviewed before it appears. No links, and please no children's names.

Read all 4 comments

  1. Lisa @ The Wellness Wife · Oct 2014

    So easy and so fun! I love that this craft uses all recycled and natural materials! Definitely pinning to try!

  2. TurkeyMomAuthor · Sep 2013 · replying to Rebecca

    Thanks for the feature Rebecca.

Similar activities

Fall Sensory Jars

30 min2–6 yrs

Flower Potions

40 min2–5 yrs

Nature Ghosts and Monsters

55 min3–6 yrs

Propeller Seed Bugs

40 min3–6 yrs
🛒 Materials