Jingle Bell Shaker

Make some noise girls and boys! This colourful project is not only great fun to make and decorate, it’s also brilliant fun to use afterwards. Create a shaker from craft pots and jingle bells, then unleash your creativity to transform it into something really special. Children can then learn about rhythm or timing by playing their shakers together, even using them in a special assembly to show off their handiwork.

Skill Level

Advanced

Time to Make

1 hour

Adult Supervision

Yes

Jingle Bell Shaker

Top Tip

Skip the string and decorate the shaker first before adding the bells if you're completing this activity with younger children, this will make it beginner level and easier to get to grips with.

How to Make

  1. Take two craft pots. Pop the base out of one, pushing up against it until it pops out of the pot, then push it into the top of the other pot, so both ends are closed off.
  2. Take the closed off pot and put the other one to one side. Take a long length of string (long enough to wrap around your craft pot at least four times and wrap it around the pot, starting by sticking the centre of the length of string to the top of the pot with a blob of glue. Then wrap it around the circumference, keeping it in place with dots of glue, crossing over the ends when they meet so they create an 'X' shape and securing that with a blob of glue too. Keep going until you have two X shapes on each side, front and back, then tie trim the ends of the string and glue them together on the pot to secure them in place.
  3. Now, glue bells around the string as shown. Position four bells around each loop of string, plus a bell in the centre of every X shape, using the glue gun.
  4. Leave the glue to dry, then decorate with pens. Use acrylic Deco pens on any large block-colour sections and fibre-tipped pens for any doodles. We used the string to break up the shaker into different sections and doodled different designs in each section as you can see. Use the picture as a guide or create your own!