How to Make a Cookie Tin Tambourine
Combine recycling, crafting and music by making a tambourine from an old cookie tin. Personalize it by painting the tin or decoupaging it with scrapbooking paper, and you can keep the rhythm for the garage band. Make a simple noisemaker for the youngest children, and progress through to bottle caps for the older musicians in the family.
Things You'll Need
- Metal cookie tin
- Beans or rice
- Colored masking or duct tape
- Icepick
- Twine or yarn
- Jingle bells
- Tin snips
- Bottle caps
- Hammer
- Paperclips
Instructions
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Simple Noisemaker Tambourine
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1
Decorate the cookie tin with paint or paper.
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2
Place 1/4 to 1/2 cup of beans or rice inside the tin.
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3
Replace the lid and seal it closed with the masking or duct tape.
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4
Play the tambourine by shaking it to move the contents inside.
Bell Tambourine
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5
Decorate the tin as desired.
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6
Use an icepick to punch holes around the edge of the tin, about 2 inches apart.
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7
Cut the twine into 4-inch pieces.
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8
Thread a piece of twine through the holes in the tin and through the tops of the bells. Tie the ends into a knot and trim the ends of the twine. Continue until each hole has a bell.
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9
Shake the tin to make the bells ring.
Bottle Cap Tambourine
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10
Mark 2-inch squares around the tin with a fine-tip permanent marker, spacing them 2 to 3 inches apart.
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11
Mark an X in the center of each square by drawing a line to connect the diagonal corners.
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12
Punch a hole in the center of each X with the icepick.
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13
Cut along the center marks with the tin snips to make four triangles. If the tin is extremely thin, you may be able to make these cuts with a utility knife.
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14
Bend the triangles to the inside of the tin. You may need to use pliers for this step.
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15
Flatten the bottle caps with the hammer.
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16
Punch a hole in the center of each bottle cap.
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17
Open the paper clips and thread two bottle caps on each one.
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18
Bend the ends of the clips to make a Z shape.
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19
Hook the arms of the Z to the top and bottom triangles inside the tin.
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20
Shake the tin to make the bottle caps hit one another.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Add a drop of craft glue to the twine knots to keep them from coming untied.
You may cut the two side triangles in each square away, rather than bending them to the inside of the tin.
Wire of a similar gauge to the paper clips may be used.
The cut tin edges may be sharp, so take care when bending them back into the cookie tin. You may wish to cover the sharp edges of the folded-back tin with tape.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit tambourin 1 image by Nathalie P from Fotolia.com
