Fourth of July Shakers

Kid Truth: No matter how loud a kid may be, at one time or another during their childhood, fireworks scare them half to death! I have a child for whom this holds true. She’s very apprehensive about the upcoming Fourth of July because of fireworks. I don’t plan on taking her to see any this year, but she still asks me about it just to make sure. So in an attempt to help her change her mind about the Fourth of July, we’ve made fun Fourth of July Shakers. This way, she still celebrate and make some noise in her own kiddo way. I also like repurposing projects, and this just happens to be a great one.

Supplies

• Small disposable water bottles, washed and dried.
• Rubbing alcohol
• Dry pasta
• Red food coloring
• Blue food coloring
• Ziploc Bags
• Paper plates
• Duct Tape
• Festive washi tape
• Something to use for the ‘handle’. I had a few small empty glitter tubes that I repurposed for this project.

Begin by dying the pasta in red and blue colors. My method is based on one from Many Little Blessings, but mine is a little different.  In a small ziploc bag, dump 1/4 cup rubbing alcohol and 15 drops of blue food coloring. Add 1 cup dry pasta. Coat the pasta evenly and close the bag. Repeat with the red food coloring. Lay the pasta in a single layer (in the bag) and let dry for a few hours.

Drain the bags and empty the pasta on a paper plate to continue drying. Dry thoroughly.

Place the colored pasta into the small plastic bottles. Disperse the colors evenly.

Insert the handle and secure with the duct tape. Yes, it looks totally ugly, but we are getting ready to spruce it up!

Cover the duct tape and handle with the festive washi tape. Add washi tape details to the bottle as desired.

Give these to your kiddo to create fun Fourth of July noise without the scary firework noise!