I found these cool plastic Easter eggs on sale for $0.99 at Michaels craft store Tuesday night, and knew they would make perfect egg shakers. They are made out of sturdier plastic than regular eggs, and I love that one half is a colored egg and the other half is clear.
DIY Egg Shakers
These simple DIY egg shakers were easy to put together! We filled half of them with poly pellets. Then I decided to make things a little more interesting, so we used colored rice, quinoa, pinto beans, and black beans to fill the remaining eggs. I sealed the eggs shut with electrical tape – it’s hard for little fingers to peel off and stretchy enough that it only bunches a tiny bit at the narrow end of each egg. And it gives each egg a “fancy” black stripe. Duct tape also works well.
All three kids enjoy playing with them:
Lily uses them properly the most frequently – turns out they make perfect baby toys!
Emma and Johnny spent much of yesterday afternoon pretending to be Easter bunnies and hiding the eggs. They would then go find them for me, and tell me what a good job I was doing of finding the eggs. That’s my kind of game!
There are many structured ways to use egg shakers: you can have children shake their eggs to the beat of a song, talk about how different fillings in the eggs make different noises, have one child shake their egg and ask the other children to try to walk to the beat of the egg shaker… If you make fancy clear shakers like us, you can even talk about how static electricity makes some of the fillings (quinoa in particular) stick to the inside walls of the shaker!
How would you use these egg shakers with your kids?
MaryAnne lives in Silicon Valley with her Stanford professor husband Mike and their four children, born in 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2012. She is passionate about parenting through education, creativity, and play. Mama Smiles - Joyful Parenting is a space to share crafts, activities, and family outings that enrich lives and bring families together.
Jaimie says
Nice! They look so cool.
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Natalie says
Great ideas, and you snagged a great deal on those eggs. Lily looks so big already!
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Ticia says
Our church uses them in the children’s ministry for the kids to participate in worship. Glad to hear mine aren’t the only ones hiding eggs nonstop.
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Quadmama says
Great idea!
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Cascia @ Healthy Moms says
What a great idea! My kids would love this. Thanks for stopping by Healthy Moms!
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Jenny says
What an awesome idea! I didn’t see those at Micheal’s the other day.
MamaRuck says
Great find!
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Julie says
They are so pretty!
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Beverly says
such a great idea! those are really cool eggs too.
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Valerie @ Frugal Family Fun Blog says
They are so pretty! I love that you filled them with such interesting and colorful fillings. So cool!!
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Elisa | blissfulE says
Gorgeous! And I totally agree they are the perfect baby toy.
LOL about your kids finding them for you and telling you what a great job you’re doing of finding them. :)
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susana says
You are awesome! The things you do are one of a kind and so, so fun!!
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Amanda says
What a clever idea!
Following from MBC.
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Beth says
love the see-through eggs!
Marisa says
Great idea.
MD says
Bad idea, electrical tape is not secure enough for a toddler witrh with patience, contents can be choking hazards depending on size of particulate, as well as the left over tape.
maryanne says
@MD – Ours have held up without any trouble, but they aren’t ever used without supervision.
cathy @ nurturestore says
We have some homemade shakers in little boxes but I really like that you can see inside your version – much more interesting. Thanks for linking to the Carnival of Music and Sing Play ;)
maggy, red ted art says
Oh my and wow! These look AMAZING!!! I Want to find eggs like that!! Perfect!!
Maggy
maryanne says
Thanks! I want to make more for friends, but so far I haven’t seen eggs like those this year…
Cerys @ Rainy Day Mum says
What a great idea – I’m going to be on the hunt out as I’m sure T will love them.
Thank you for linking up with Made with Love
Angelique Felix says
oh, totally love them! You made them so exciting also for the kids! Pinning them.
Love and thanks for linking up,
Angelique
maryanne says
I’m glad you like them! Thanks for pinning =)
Carolyn Wilhcarm says
So much fun! They have pretty colored electrical tape, too, but these are so visual already. I love this idea! Carolyn
maryanne says
Thank you!
Jackie says
I love that one side is clear!! I’ll have to look for those as Easter gets closer!
maryanne says
The clear side makes them way more fun! Wish I knew where to buy them all the time – I have friends who want sets =)
Diane Hurst says
Great idea! I wonder if anyone makes plastic eggs that are totally see-through?
MaryAnne says
I actually found some at Oriental Trading last year, and made this version: https://www.mamasmiles.com/fancy-shaker-eggs-version-two/
Diane Hurst says
Those look very pretty, with the colored sand and poly pellets!
MaryAnne says
Thank you! My kids play with them all the time!
Lindsay @ Homespun Sprout says
These are so neat! I teach a Bible Study class for 15 two year-olds…and we use egg shakers but they are not nearly this cool! Hope I can get my hands on some of these neat eggs. Thanks for sharing!