Materials Needed: clean yogurt cups with lids, large popsicle sticks, (available in craft stores), low-temp hot glue gun and glue sticks, small dried beans, 1/8"-wide red and green ribbon, colored paper, masking tape, glue, paint or markers or crayons

Before distributing cups to students, cut a 1/2-3/4" gash in the bottom center of each cup. (Length of cut depends on width of popsicle sticks purchased. Gash should be about 1/8" longer than stick is wide.) Insert popsicle stick into opening of each cup until about 1/4" of stick is visible inside cup, and hot glue stick securely in place. Be sure to use a LOW TEMP glue gun. At higher temperatures, glue will melt the plastic cups. You may wish to glue the stick both inside and outside cup the cup for added strength. Allow glue to cool completely before distributing cups to students.

With students, pour about 2 Tbsp. dried beans into a yogurt cup, replace lid, and tape shut. Cut a strip of paper about one-half inch wider than the cup's circumference at its widest point and about six inches longer than the cup's height. Wrap paper around cup, leaving three inches of extra paper at both the top and bottom of cup. Tape paper in place. Use red and green ribbon to gather paper around top and bottom of cup and tie closed.  Popsicle stick handle should protude several inches from the paper covering around the bottom of the cup.

Encourage students to use different colors of paper, paint, markers, and/or crayons to decorate their maracas as they choose.