THE MARACA By: Kerstin Hasler My instrument is a Maraca. I got the idea from looking at other maracas and thought it would be fun to make. The materials I used are newspaper scraps, half of a toilet paper roll, papier mache made out of water and flour to make the newspaper scraps stick, a balloon, beads, and spray paint. I got the flour and the water from the kitchen. I also found some beads in my room.  Because my sister's birthday was two days before I started my instrument, there were still things left over like the balloon and the spray paint. A tool I used would be a bowl and a wooden spoon. Here are the steps I used to create my instrument: First I got a balloon and filled it with beads. Then I blew up the balloon, made a knot, and attached it to the half of the toilet paper roll. Then I took my newspaper scraps, dumped them into the papier mache, and attached them to the balloon. I could only do one layer at a time because if I did more and didn't let it dry it would get moldy. After letting all three layers dry, I could spray paint my maraca. First I spray painted it blue but that didn't show so well so I spray-painted the top purple and the bottom black. At last I had to pop the balloon making sure that the beads could hit the sides making the sound. My instrument belongs to the percussion family. My instrument makes a rattling sound when you shake it. It can also make a tapping / rattling sound when you tap it against your palm. The sound sounds like a rattling sound when the different size beads hit the sides if the maraca. The volume depends on how hard you shake it. It can be loud and soft. My mom helped me with building my instrument. She told me how to make the papier mache. The biggest problem would have been the waiting when it was drying. But except that, making the maraca was really fun.