A Cool Penguin Craft Project
Make some noise (oops, we mean music!) with a fun penguin shaker you can easily craft at home.
BY HEJIRA CONVERY, KINDICARE
If a cute and easy craft project is music to your ears, then let us introduce you to KindiCare’s penguin shaker!
With black and white beads and a happy-footed penguin, this thing is super fun for your preschooler to shake, rattle and roll, with some cool dance moves thrown in.
There’s not too much trickery involved in the construction, so follow our step-by-step instructions below, then give playtime a shake-up, penguin-style!
Step 1: Upcycle a drink bottle
We used an Ice Break flavoured milk bottle, because penguins like it coooool, but any plastic drink bottle with do.
Remove the label, wash the bottle and cap well, and leave to dry.
Then glue yellow paper onto the lid to match the penguin you’ll make in Step 3.
Step 2: Make or find some shake-able beads
Fimo is a fun material to make beads out of, because you can swirl black and white clay together, shape it into balls, then bake until hard.
However, you can use wooden beads, LEGO bricks or anything rattly for your shaker – just as long as they fit inside the neck of your bottle.
Step 3: Make a paper penguin
Your penguin is the star of the show, and to put this little guy together you’ll need some black, white and yellow paper.
Cut out a penguin shape in the black paper, following the shape below and making sure it’s the height of your drink bottle (up to the cap).
Next, cut a smaller penguin shape in the white paper, like we’ve done.
Use a hole-puncher to make two little penguin eyes, then cut a penguin beak out of the yellow paper.
Glue everything together and leave to dry.
Step 4: Attach the penguin to the bottle
Use double-sided tape, or sticky tape folded back on itself, to stick your penguin to the front of the bottle.
Step 5: Add some happy feet
Cut out two feet from yellow paper, like in the pic below, and stick them to the base of the bottle, in line with your penguin.
Step 6: Add a pile of beads to the bottle
Drop your pre-made beads into the bottle, then screw the lid on tightly.
If you have a baby, small child or other taste-tester in the house, glue the lid on, so there’s no chance the beads will end up in their mouth.
Step 7: Pass the penguin to your preschooler!
They’ll have fun rocking it from side-to-side and shaking it like crazy, and it’s also fun to turn on some music and happy dance around the house.
Once your penguin is all worn out, you can experiment with other animals, like tigers and bears or puppies and parrots, and KindiCare’s 5-in-1 music box is another cool craft project you can try.
Enjoy!
