Kindergarten Rattles

For our Native American Rattle project, we started out by looking at a variety of rattles:

I gave the student 3 choices for their rattles:
1.  small water bottles
2.  toilet paper roll
3.  2 small containers

Water Bottle Rattles
The students began by adding small beads (leftover Mardi Gras beads that I had cut up) to their bottles. paper mache paste. Once they were dry, I used an exacto knife to cut a small slit in the side of the bottle. The children wrapped a tongue depressor with colored tape and inserted this into the bottle.

They put the cap on and then we taped it (so that they wouldn't be tempted to open them). They covered the bottles with tissue paper and

 Toilet Paper Rolls
I gave each student 2 circle with slits cut around the outside. They taped one of these on one end. Beads were added and then the 2nd circle was added and taped to the other end. Once both ends were taped. The students used permanent markers to color their rattles. I used the exacto knife to cut a small slit and they added the tape covered handle.

 2 Small Containers
Each student was given 2 matching containers (yogurt or jello worked best). Beads were added to one and then the containers were taped together. The containers were painted with acrylic paint. The tape covered handles were added at the end.

For all 3 rattles, the students decorated them with sequins to give them some sparkle. Pin It

Fourth Grade Spirit Rattles

Materials Needed

• Clay- preferably red
• tools
• glaze
• small pieces of fired clay- to place inside rattle
Arrow to the Sun: A Pueblo Indian Tale

Fourth grade read the book Arrow to the Sun: A Pueblo Indian Tale. They discussed different types of rattles- baby rattles, maracas, native American rattles, etc.

They planned their rattle by drawing a sketch of what they wanted it to look like in their sketchbook. I had a variety of Native American resources on hand for them to look at, including resources that explained the symbology that is used.



When they were ready, they were given a ball of clay. They formed this clay into a pinch pot. They put pieces of already fired clay into the pot and then made another pinch pot. The pots were attached to create a sphere. Some students stepped outside of the box and made different shapes than spheres. I had hearts, stars, cubes, but the majority ended up being spheres.

A handle was formed out of more clay.

The students added textures to their rattles with different tools and texture plates.

After the rattles were fired, they were glazed. When we were glazing, we talked about how they didn't have to cover the entire rattle with glaze. The beautiful red clay could show through. They could use the glaze to highlight the designs and textures that they had created in their rattle.

We then covered the entire rattle with clear glaze and I fired them one last time. Pin It