How to Make Homemade Cheerleading Noisemakers

A big part of cheerleading is making noise.

Half the pleasure of watching team sports comes from making a lot of noise to support your team. Of course there are team songs and chants for this, but noisemakers let you make a racket throughout the whole game without losing your voice. Of course these can be purchased, but they can be made so easily, it hardly seems worth spending the money.

Things You'll Need

• Metal tin with lid
• Beads, coins or metal nuts
• Duct tape
• Team flag or banner
• Craft glue
• Cotton ball
• Acetone
• Metal skewers
• Rubber ball
• Rubber band
• 1/4-inch screws
• Screwdriver
• Duct tape
• Strong glue
• Metal U-shaped bracket
• Metal bottle lids
• Small metal file

Instructions

Shaker

1. Fill the tin a quarter full with beads, coins or metal nuts. Replace the lid and fix it in place securely with duct tape. A new, empty metal paint tin -- with a lever-opening lid -- works well for this. These can be purchased in the paint department of any hardware store.

2. Unroll the banner or flag and smear glue along one side of it. Coil the flag or banner around the tin, so that the whole tin is covered. Hold it tightly in place and allow it to dry.

3. Clean off any excess glue with a cotton ball dipped in acetone. Shake your noisemaker to see how well it performs. Change the filling if the sound is too quiet or too loud.

Cowbell

1. Remove the lid from a tin and invert it. Punch a metal skewer through the center of the base of the tin and push it all the way through, until the loop at the end of the skewer is up against the base.

2. Apply glue to the tip of the skewer and press it hard into the rubber ball. Allow the glue to dry. Wobble the tin to check that the ball bangs against the sides of the tin. If it is too stiff, twist the skewer around in the hole to loosen it.

3. Position the U-shaped bracket over the base of the tin. Position the holes in the bracket over the sides of the tin. Use another skewer to punch small holes in the tin beneath the holes in the brackets.

4. Place screws through the holes in the bracket into the holes in the tin and screw them in place. Secure the bracket with duct tape and wrap more tape around the bracket. It will now act as a handle.

Castanets

1. Punch a pair of holes through two metal bottle lids. Use skewers to punch the holes and position the holes about an inch apart. File off any sharp burs left around the hole.

2. Snip the rubber band, so it's one straight strip of rubber. Place the tops of the two lids flush with one another -- align the holes -- so they are on top of each other.

3. Thread the rubber band down through the first set of holes, then back up through the second set of holes and tie the loose ends together.

4. Slip your finger and thumb into the loops on each side of the rubber bands. Pull the lids apart and let the rubber bands clap back together again.

References

• Lakeshore Learning: Noise Maker
• NYPHILKIDS: Make your own castanets