Experiment with musical technique

What can we use instead of rice or dry beans if they’re hard to find?

Use dry pasta, uncooked lentils, beads, or small pebbles in the bottles and still follow the step to fill one bottle about one-third full and wrap tape around the lid so they stay sealed.

My shaker lid keeps popping open or the sound is too weak — what should we try?

Retape the lid tightly as the instructions say, add a bit more rice or beans (or switch to heavier fillings) to increase volume, and use the 'count a steady beat' step or a metronome to keep your claps on beats 1 and 3 steady while testing sound levels.

How can we adapt this activity for different ages?

For preschoolers have an adult prefill and tape the bottles and practice just clapping on beats 1 and 3 softly and loudly, while older children can practice staccato and legato, combine claps and bottle shakes on beats 2 and 4, change tempos, and record layers to share on DIY.org.

How can we extend or personalize the rhythm activity once we finish the basic steps?

Decorate and label each taped bottle, experiment with different fillings and bottle sizes for new sounds, add the pot as an extra percussion, create longer patterns mixing staccato and legato, and record your performance to upload to DIY.org.