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I think shaker eggs are a great exploratory learning tool to have in any preschool or home – and visually interesting shaker eggs are even better! We’ve made fancy shaker eggs before, and they have been so popular that I couldn’t resist this new variation after finding clear plastic Easter eggs for sale – along with beautiful colored sand.
We sealed the eggs with electrical tape, just like last time, after first trying a couple of much less satisfactory methods. I’ve never had any trouble with the electrical tape, but I like to explore my options. If you do try this, be sure to stretch the electrical tape slightly as you go along, as that creates the perfect seal.
We made three different kinds – eggs filled only with colored sand:
Eggs filled with poly pellets (originally purchased for use in our owie dolls, but have proven useful in a lovely variety of ways):
And eggs filled with both colored sand and poly pellets:
Besides making the eggs more visually exciting, the different fillers provide a range of sounds. The poly pellets are loudest, the sand the quietest, and those filled with both fall somewhere in between. The ones with both also provide a mini density lesson, since the less-dense poly pellets rise to the top as you shake the egg gently back and forth. I also used the tape to create a subtle color wheel lesson – matching complementary colors as much as I could with some limited colors (and a limited understanding of the color wheel – let me know if I got completely off with any, color wheel experts reading this?)
Lily thinks that all of the shaker eggs should belong to her, because she loves them so much – and, apparently, every two-year-old needs twenty-three shaker eggs (one egg arrived cracked, sadly). Thanks to lots of work on sharing, all three kids have enjoyed playing with the eggs, shaking them to music, and running miniature egg hunts in preparation for Easter. It’s probably best that they practice that last skill, since I’ve noticed that – so far, at least – they are much better at hiding than finding!
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This is WONDERFUL! I really like the range of sounds idea, and your pictures are gorgeous! I’m so glad they’re bigger now- we can really appreciate them. :-)
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oooh these are great. I love that they are transparent. xxx
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I have to keep our Resurrection eggs hidden because of the mini egg hunts. I bet buttons would be pretty cool in there too.
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maryanne Reply:
March 16th, 2012 at 9:47 am
LOVE the button idea!!!
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MaryAnne!
I love this! I have to do this with the girls! Kate, especially, will hoard them and claim they’re all HERS, just like Lily. And goodness knows I have an excess of poly pellets, too. Would you share where you got your clear eggs? I’m assuming not Michaels/JoAnn since they had to “arrive” -by post?
Thank you so much!
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maryanne Reply:
March 16th, 2012 at 10:21 am
Oriental Trading – the sand, too :)
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maryanne Reply:
March 16th, 2012 at 10:22 am
Oh, and did you see Ticia’s suggestion of putting buttons in some? I’m tempted to open up some of the poly pellet ones and turn them into button eggs!
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Another clever idea. This reminds me of a fun game we played at the museum where you shook blocks and tried to guess what was in them.
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maryanne Reply:
March 16th, 2012 at 1:38 pm
We’ve done that with the non-clear plastic eggs – lots of fun!
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Where can I get clear eggs ?
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maryanne Reply:
March 16th, 2012 at 3:50 pm
Oriental Trading is where we got ours (you can order online).
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These are lovely and love that they are transparent, need to look for some:) And your photos are great!!
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So pretty and fun! I have never seen clear eggs. I may need to order some.
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maryanne Reply:
March 16th, 2012 at 4:07 pm
I found some a couple years ago where half was clear, and then never found any again, so couldn’t resist ordering some when I saw them in the Oriental Trading catalog!
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This is brilliant. I love that you even managed to get a color wheel lesson in :)
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These are sooooo clever! I would have stocked up on them too! Great job!
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Love this idea! I found it on Pinterest and followed the link back here :0) I wonder if I could make an Easter themed Calm-Me-Jar (Calm-Me-Egg? Lol)if I added hot glue to the seal before using the electrical tape? Either way, I’m going to try this for Easter. Maybe an Easter Resurrection I-Spy Egg? Thank you for sharing your creative ideas!
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maryanne Reply:
March 16th, 2012 at 8:24 pm
That should work! I hope you do make some – my kids love theirs!
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These are really a neat concept! Intregrating many concepts into one, can’t wait to order some clear plastic egg and get started on our own.
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Cool idea. Abby had a set of shaker eggs that someone got her when she was a baby. She loved them. She liked to use them as maracas and dance. LOL!
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maryanne Reply:
March 16th, 2012 at 8:38 pm
So adorable!!! :)
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These are beautiful, and I think your colour wheel idea is brilliant!
Glad they’re non-perishable for those ones that are hidden and can’t be found… :)
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These would be GREAT to use with Laurie Berkner’s song “Shaky Egg”…. I will be making some for my daycare children (I have a home daycare) to use with that song! THANKS
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maryanne Reply:
March 17th, 2012 at 10:16 am
They would be perfect for that song – great idea!!!
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Those are very cool! This would make a great classroom project and then kids could use them to shake while they dance to music! I will remember this one for sure. :D
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I really like that the eggs are clear. I can imagine all of the fun and colorful things that could go in them and the different sounds, too!
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What a great idea! Love all the colors of the tape and sand. Clear eggs were a great idea!
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LOVE this idea!
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this is awesome!!!
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I love these! Now I just need to find clear Easter eggs :)
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The fact that the eggs are transparent adds a whole new level of fun to this. Such a neat idea.
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these look like so much fun! i pinned them!
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maryanne Reply:
March 18th, 2012 at 7:08 am
Thank you, Andie!
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Those are really cool! Great project… and your color wheel is spot-on!
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maryanne Reply:
March 19th, 2012 at 9:01 am
YAY!!! So glad I got it right :)
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Both of my kids would LOVE these- so cool!
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Very fun! My kids are getting older, but boy did they love to play with the plastic eggs we had before and after Easter. Early Easter egg hunts were a favorite activity. You really have the best ideas! Thanks for sharing this at We Teach this week.
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I really like these egg shakers! I’ve never done them with see through eggs. I bet the children love watching what is inside as they shake them. I need to find some clear eggs! Thanks for sharing. I’m going to pin this one on Pinterest for a future idea!
Tonya
http://www.stringskeysandmelodies.blogspot.com
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maryanne Reply:
March 26th, 2012 at 4:30 pm
The clear eggs make all the difference!
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Fabaroo! I’m so glad you posted this second go at making these. I think it was your last post about them that got me to make some for a friend’s one year old for our egg hunt last year. Now of course I’m reminded to make some for Del for this year! Good to see you and the crew doing well and having fun. Something weird has happened to my rss feed and a lot of blogs I used to be subscribed to are missing for some reason, so I haven’t been here for a while and just thought to check on how you are. Will see if it lets me subscribe again.
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maryanne Reply:
March 26th, 2012 at 4:30 pm
Yay!!! So glad they were a hit last year, and I hope Del enjoys them this year! :)
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[...] Fancy Shaker Eggs (see photo above), Mama Smiles [...]
[...] Ready to make some fancy, messy eggs? This Easter Egg tutorial from Creative Ideas caught my eye. Shaving Cream Easter Eggs would make beautiful Easter cards for grandparents! Your children could work on color recognition as well as music with these adorable Fancy Shaker Eggs! [...]
I LOVE this idea!! We love color and noise here, and I think the tactile experience involved in this activity is wonderful! I’m going to feature it tonight on my Sharing Saturday post at Preschool Powol Packets!
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Some of my co-workers expressed concern about the safety of these with small chilcren. I agree that they are adorable and I would love to make them in a program sponsed by my teen group for children. Have you heard of any problems associated with these eggs?
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MaryAnne Reply:
February 9th, 2013 at 12:00 pm
I haven’t heard of any problems, Peggy, but they should be used with supervision since it is possible for a child to peel the electrical tape off, and even if you glue the eggs shut a determined kid could probably still get it open. I haven’t seen kids try to do this, but I think it could be an issue if you got a child with the right personality.
That being said, I made a set in 2010 that has since been used by 200+ children (always supervised) aged 18 months through 12 years old, and none of those have ever come open. Those eggs were a little more sturdy (see this post http://mamasmiles.com/fancy-egg-shakers/), but unfortunately I haven’t found them for sale anywhere since. A couple of the shaker eggs from this set HAVE broken open when kids stepped on them; we just cleaned it up with a dustbuster. Nobody ever tried to eat anything. Just in case, though, the eggs are filled with children’s craft sand and the same poly pellets that go into stuffed toys, and the manufacturers of those products made them knowing it was possible for a child to ingest them (some kids try to eat craft sand, and stuffed toys can also rip open).
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[...] Fancy Shaker Eggs by Mama Smiles [...]
[...] you are making. Looking for a way to use up those Easter eggs that are laying around your house? Create egg shakers. Or check out these fun DIY drums made out of cans and ballons. Easy, fun and educational all in [...]
These are wonderful!!! What a fun way for the little ones to dance and shake and make some noise!!!
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MaryAnne Reply:
May 20th, 2013 at 8:32 pm
My kids and their friends love them!
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