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Turn a Milk Jug Into a Recycled Shekere

Do you know the three R’s? Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

How about the four “R’s”? Reduce, Reuse, Recycle… and Rock Out! While you’re going greener and thinking about reducing or reusing plastic, here’s a fun way to turn large containers into child-size versions of African shekeres.

What’s a Shekere?

I wonder if shekeres were “original recycling projects”. Perhaps someone looked at dried gourds and decided they could be made into musical instruments. To do this, a netting of beads (called a skirt) was crafted around the gourd and small beads, seeds or shells were strung in the fiber to create the sound of the instrument. Most music historians believe the shekere began in West Africa but can now be found with variations in size, beadwork, shape and manner of playing throughout the African continent and around the world.

A Milk Jug Shekere

Since you probably have more plastic containers than cleaned and dried gourds, start by finding an empty milk jug, large water bottle or similar item from your recycling bin. Before you begin, make sure it fits nicely into your child’s hands.

Beading With Stickers or Markers

Doing intricate crafts like beading is great fun but takes practice and patience, plus motor skills that can be a difficult for small children. Here’s an easy alternative.

If your container is clear and clean, you can place stickers directly onto the plastic bottle or draw “beads” with markers, making colorful patterns or shapes. If there’s a label on the container, you can cut out a piece of poster board or construction paper to fit the container and lay the paper flat. This makes for easy “sticker beading” and a fun way to explore patterns, shapes and colors with your young child.

If you’re working with a classroom of kids or have a limited time to do this project, you can skip the aspect of trying to “bead” the shekere and allow the kids to simply decorate the outside of the container.

Sounding Good!

In traditional shekeres, the sound comes from the beads or seeds rattling on the outside of the gourd. In our recycled version, we’ll need to add something inside the container to create the sound. Here are some suggestions for a quieter recycled shekere: sand, salt, sugar, tiny pasta (like acini de pepi), seed beads, Q-tips and paper clips. Here are some fillings you can use to create a louder instrument: pebbles, dried pasta, dried beans, popcorn kernels, marbles or pennies.

Once you’ve filled your shekere and you like the sound it makes. Put the cap on and seal it into place with heavy duty tape to keep this project child-safe.

Time to Play

Although a shekere is a rattle, there’s a lot of different ways you can play it. Here are some playing suggestions:

Hold the handle and shake.

Hold both sides and rattle the contents back and forth.

Hold both sides and toss it gently while twisting it.

Hold it vertically and toss it gently from hand to hand.

Sit a short distance from a friend and toss it back and forth.

With a group of children, sit in a circle and toss it from child to child around the circle.

Try any of the above ideas while singing or while music is playing. Try to shake along to the beat.

Links and Resources

Hear A Shekere

http://www.dariamusic.com/shekere.php

Color a Shekere Online

http://www.dariamusic.com/color_Shekere.php

Bead an African Shekere

https://makingmulticulturalmusic.wordpress.com/2013/12/04/bead-your-own-african-shekere/

Make a Classroom Shekere (From A Gourd)

http://tinytappingtoes.wordpress.com/2013/08/05/easy-gourd-shekere-for-a-child-or-a-classroom/

An Alphabet Shekere Game

http://www.trueaimeducation.com/2012/10/guest-post-learning-letters-with-an-alphabet-shekere.html

Sekere.com – Beaded Sekeres from Master Craftswoman, Sara Fabunmi

http://www.sekere.com

Cultural Value of the Shekere, Article By Sara Fabunmi

https://makingmulticulturalmusic.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/the-cultural-value-of-the-sekere/

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Posted in African Music, Classroom Music, Early Learning With Music, Ecology/Nature, Family Fun, First Instruments, Homeschool Musical Fun, Musical Crafts, Simple Instruments, Special Needs/Kids of All Abilities

Tagged African crafts, African music crafts, children’s music crafts, children’s musical instruments, Daria, Daria Marmaluk-Hajioannou, dariamusic, DIY music crafts, Easiest Instruments For Children, family fun, Green crafts, green crafts for kids, homeschool music, kids music activities, kids music crafts, Milk Jug crafts, multicultural music, music activities, music crafts, MYO music crafts, recycled crafts, Recycled music crafts, world music with daria, young children and music

Make Your Own Woven Caxixi Rattle

Making and playing simple instruments from around the world can be a great way to spend time with your young child. It offers a chance to get creative, explore art, celebrate diversity and make music all at the same time. Here’s a perfect example of a fun instrument that you can make to explore world cultures and add to your music basket – a woven caxixi rattle.

Caxixi (pronounced ka-shee-shee) rattles are beautifully woven, small, hand percussion instruments that can be found in Africa as well as in South America. The rattle has a flat bottom piece that can be made from a gourd or from plastic or metal. The rest of the rattle is the woven “basket” that holds the small items that create the sound. The basket part can be woven with beautiful patterns of colored fiber and some caxixi’s consist of two baskets attached to one handle. Although this instrument may look quite simple, the caxixi can make a wide variety of sounds. You can shake the contents against the softer side of the woven rattle for one sound or against the harder bottom part for another tone.

How are caxixi rattles played in traditional cultures? In West Africa, they are often played by the singers who are accompanied by drummers. In this setting, the rattle is believed to bring call good spirits and drive away bad ones. In Brazil, the caxixi is often seen creating the percussion sound for a really unique instrument called a birembau.

Make Your Woven Rattle

Here’s a list of supplies that you can use for this simple and fun project:

Supplies:

Small milk carton or plastic container

Construction paper

Pipe cleaners or yarn

scotch tape

Any small material for filling the rattle such as bird seed, tiny pasta, pebbles, dried beans or beads

Directions:

Clean and dry a used milk carton or a round plastic bottle.

Cut a rectangle of recycled paper to fit over the main area of the container – the square part of the milk carton or the lower part of the plastic bottle.

Cut “weaving strips” that are exactly as long as the wide side of the rectangle. Make them as wide as you like. Larger strips are easier for smaller hands to weave.

Cut the main rectangle vertically, leaving the space of about one weaving strip in the bottom.

Weave the rectangle with any color combination you like and then fit it onto your container and tape it into place.

Next, braid or twist several pipecleaners together to form the handle.

Before you assemble the final rattle, add the materials that will create the sound. Add any small fillings to the rattle and see if you like what you hear. Smaller, lighter items make softer sounds. Larger, harder objects like dried beans and buttons make a louder and harsher sound. When you find the perfect mix, put on the lid.

For the milk carton caxixi – poke two small holes in the carton on the top and thread pipeclearners through them for a handle.