Make these paper bag maracas or noise makers in celebration of Cinco de Mayo, or decorate differently to use any time of year. Great for New Year’s, birthday parties, and even football games! Decorate brown paper bags, fill with rice, add a handle, tie it up, and shake, shake, shake away!
There are a lot of crafts you can make from paper bags. Puppets, book covers, decorated gift bags, treasure maps and even cards! Let your kids express their imagination with these fun paper bag maracas by letting them decorate them however they want. The design on my bag is just one idea, there is no wrong or right way to decorate them. Use whatever colors you want for your maracas, I chose red, green, yellow and white because they are the traditional colors of Cinco de Mayo. If you are making paper bag maracas for New Year’s, colors such as gold, white and silver are more festive for that holiday.
You and the kids can make maracas from many different recycled materials. These festive maracas are made from egg cartons! You can turn recycled toilet paper tubes into adorable chili pepper maracas, use plastic eggs and spoons to make these maracas, and kids can turn drink containers into maracas too!
Here’s how to turn paper bags into fun noise makers for any holiday or occasion.
Paper Bag Maracas
Craft project by Amanda Formaro
You will need:
- 4 paper lunch bags
- a handful of dried rice
- tape
- 12” square piece of foil
- rubber band
- paint: red, green, white, yellow
- 8” x 1” strip of red felt
Instructions:
- Nest 3 of the 4 bags inside each other. Set the last bag aside to make the handle.
- Place your hand in the center of the foil square and loosely gather it up and around your wrist. Insert your hand inside the bags and place the foil at the bottom.
- Spread the sides of the foil up and around the sides so that it’s flush with the edges of the inside of the bag. The foil will give a little more strength and body to the bag and will provide a better noise for the shaker!
- Place a handful of rice inside the bag. Set aside.
- Cut one side and around the bottom of the remaining lunch bag to open it up. Fold the bottom flap in, then starting at one end, roll up the bag to create the handle. Roll it up tight and tape closed.
- Put a piece of tape across the center of the handle. Place the handle into the bag with the rice and press the tape to the side of the bag. The handle should be half in and half out of the bag.
- Gather the top of the open bag around the handle and secure with a rubber band.
- Decorate the maraca with paint using stripes, dots and curved lines. Let dry completely.
- Tie the red felt strip around the rubber band to conceal it.
Helpful craft tips:
- You can use brown or white lunch bags for this project.
- If you prefer, have children decorate the bag first, let dry, then proceed with assembly.
- Be sure that children shake gently so that their maracas last!