In addition to being delicious with cheese, macaroni is also an excellent addition to many musical crafts. Macaroni makes for a good addition to a homemade musical instrument because it is small, hallow, and one of the less expensive of all the pastas (so you don’t feel guilty using in a craft and not eating it). Most musical crafts involving macaroni will involve making the macaroni move in some way. It is when the macaroni hits into itself or into the sides of a container that it really makes its trademark noise. Here are a couple ideas for how macaroni can be a great addition to your musical crafts.
A Macaroni Shaker
The basic idea behind a macaroni shaker is that there is some kind of container filled with a macaroni that makes the desired sound when agitated. For example, a maraca is nothing more than a vessel with a handle that is filled with dry rice, beans or pellets. When the instrument is held and shaken, the pellets hit the sides of the maraca and the shaker sound is created. So applying this concept to a craft is simple. You can take something like a jar or even a paper plate that is folded in half, fill it with macaroni and seal the container. That’s all it takes!
All that you need to make a shaker of your own is a paper plate, some tape and macaroni. Decorate the underside of the plate in any way that you wish. Once the plate is decorated, fold the plate in half so that the top of the plate is on the inside of the shaker. Secure the edges of the plate together with tape but leave an opening large enough to pour macaroni through. Pour a little bit of macaroni (a quarter cup or so, you don’t want to over fill the plate or the macaroni pieces will not have enough space to move around) into your folded plate. Use the tape to seal the remaining opening. Now shake!