Festive Maracas
Upcycle small ice cream cups or yogurt cups into a pair of colorful maracas. Make them as part of a Mexican-themed lesson or event, or create them when you need easy-to-make noise makers or musical instruments.
Featured Crafts
Supplies Needed
- Two small ice cream cups or yogurt cups with lid
- Two craft sticks or popsicle sticks
- Rice or small beans
- White acrylic paint
- Poster paint or acrylic paint in various colors
- Paint brushes
- Box cutter or craft knife
- Glue gun
STEPS
2Prime the cups and lids.
Paint the outside of the cups and lids with white acrylic paint. Acrylic paint sticks well onto plastic and glossy surfaces. This layer of paint hides the print on the cup and prepares your maracas for its final colors.
3Paint with the final colors.
Once the white acrylic paint dries, place each lid back on the cup.
Think about how you want your maracas to look. You can do just one color for your maracas, paint simple patterns like I did, or go with an elaborate design. Paint both of your maracas using acrylic paint or poster paint.
4Paint a pair of craft sticks.
Paint a pair of craft sticks or popsicle sticks with poster paint or acrylic paint. These sticks will be the handles for your maracas.
5Cut a slit on each lid.
After your painted maracas are dry, cut a small slit at the center of each lid. The slit must just be wide enough for the craft stick or popsicle stick to get through.
6Place rice or beans.
Carefully remove the lid. Fill each cup one-third full with rice or small beans.
7Attach the handles.
Insert one end of a craft stick through the slit on the top of each lid. Push the stick a third of the way through the slit. Fix the stick in place with a glue gun.
8Glue the lid onto the cup.
Glue the lid to the cup either with a glue gun or with white glue.
9Shake your maracas!
Once the glue has set, try out your maracas. Hold both maracas and shake them!
If you want your maracas to be even more festive, decorate it further with sequins, glitter glue, stickers, and other fun materials.
More Ideas
Use the seeds.
Once it's time to dismantle or dispose of your craft project, sort out the materials that you can recycle or re-use. You can use the seeds for fun activities such as the following:
- Make a seed mosaic or cute animal bean bags.
- Use the seeds to make a bird feeder.
- Plant the seeds. You can even use the cups from your maracas as small pots.
