Quick craft: Snowman music shakers

momstown loves crafts that combine music and art – here's a great one created by a momstown mom.

Here's what you need

•     a small plastic jar with a lid
•     a styrofoam or other solid ball
•     one white sock
•     one patterned or solid coloured sock
•     dried beans or rice
•     buttons
•     a rubber band
•     string
•     scraps of felt
•     scissors
•     a glue gun

Instructions

1. Fill the plastic jar approximately 1/3 full with dried beans or rice. Glue the lid securely onto the jar.

2. Glue the ball onto the lid of the jar.

3. Stretch the white sock over the lid and ball, and wrap the elastic tightly around the top of the sock.  Trim off the excess fabric from the sock.

4. Stretch the coloured sock over the top of the ball. Secure hat to the snowman with glue, or a few stitches. Trim the coloured sock a few inches longer than the white sock , and wrap a piece of string in a coordinating colour around the coloured sock, over top of where the elastic is. Make several vertical cuts in the coloured sock, cutting down to the string.  Fluff up the strips so that they look like a pom-pom on the hat.

5. Tie a thin strip of fabric around the snowman's neck to create a scarf. Glue two black buttons onto the face to create eyes, and three buttons down the front of the snowman's body.  Glue a triangular scrap of orange felt to create a carrot nose.  Glue a piece of black string, or white and black twine onto the snowman's face to create a mouth. (Note: if you are making the shaker for a child under three, you may want to consider using markers, or small fabric cut outs to create the snowman's face and accessories, as the buttons may come attached and form a choking hazard).

6. Turn on some holiday music, and shake your snowman to the beat!