Shake It, Baby, Shake It!

I'm so not a craft mom, and I certainly don't pretend to be one in my blog, but occasionally, my hormones go in overdrive, and I feel guilty for not doing more artistic activities with my children.  So once in a blue moon, we get creative with our hands.  Today, my children present  to you a musical tube made simply from your recyclable TP roll.   So, let the good times roll, Baby!  Get that toilet paper or paper towel roll our of your recycling bin, and "Shake up" an activity to keep everyone busy in your house.  This is so simple, and my motto is, "if I can do it then anyone can do it!"

The really good news is that my son does a lot of crafts and art in pre-school, and since crafts are not my forte, I gladly send him to school, and pay for others to work with my child.   He has  fabulous teachers, and they like to do "Free Art" in his classroom.

They collect toilet paper rolls, food boxes, and any other items that I would normally put in the recycling bin and create artistic masterpiece with them that end up on my kitchen counters for weeks.  Each Friday, I take a bunch of things to his teacher, and feel elated that I'm doing my part to help boost my child's creativity. 

However on a very rare day, I will put some of this "free art" to use in my own home.  The last time, I let my son work with free art in my home, he made the most savvy pirate ship ever out of an old TAMPAX box that I stupidly gave him, and it sat in my living room for weeks because he wanted to play with it and was so proud of his creation.  Every day, I kicked myself for taking the Nabisco box to school and only be left with what I could find on a whim in my bathroom.  With no Tampax boxes in sight this time, I got out the free art bag with things waiting to go to school, and decided to help my son make a Musical Percussion Tube from the Crayola website.   For once in our lives, we had everything needed to do a simple craft, and if we didn't, we could make adjustments as needed.  I'll go ahead and tell you that Crayola suggests making the tube with a paper towel roll, but our roll was still being used in the kitchen, so we resorted to a toilet paper roll as a substitute.  It worked!

I drew two circles on a piece of paper, and my son cut out the pattern.  The circles need to big enough to cover both ends of the tube.  He did need the help with this part of craft.  So, I ended up cutting out two circles while he complained.

Next came the really easy and fun part.  Your kids can decorate the toilet paper roll.  We had stamps so my son used those for decoration.  He had the most fun with this part, and if I had done this craft during my daughter's naptime then I could have read a magazine during this easy part.  Instead, I waited until my daughter was up so I was busy keeping her out of the craft area.

My son then used Crayola "Washable" markers to further decorate his tube.  You can use anything you have in the house for decoration.   We did not have stickers or any metallic markers to use like the original directions suggested.

Once the tube is decorated, rub a glue stick on one end of the cardboard tube.  Cover the end with a circle, fold the edges over, and secure with a rubber band.  Carefully pour a handful of rice, beads, or small buttons into the tube.

And he overpoured!  Once you get the rice in your tube, and clean up the MESS, place the second circle on the other end of the tube, glue, fold over, and secure with another rubber band.   Tie a colorful ribbon over each rubber band. 

I'm sure a really good craft mom would have the most beautiful musical percussion instrument ever, but my son is happy with his creation, and hopefully, we created some special memories along the way, too.

Until next time, I'm off to grab a cup of tea, and feel good that I, at least, tried to be creative with my kids.   The musical tube is still sitting on our countertops!