The 5 Best Egg Shakers for Adults and Kids (2023)
Egg shakers are a fun and great-sounding percussion instrument that just about anybody can learn how to play! They are great for musicians and recording, as well as fun for children to learn how percussion works.
Egg shakers are essentially a type of rattle – little egg-shaped (thus the name) rattles made from plastic or wood filled with small metal, sand or some other material particles that make the sound when shaken. As all rattles, they are as old as human species and are one of the first instruments ever made in human history.
As such, they are used all around the globe in all sorts of different music styles, especially folk music and indigenous music. We made this list of top 5 egg shakers to help you go through the lot of them in the market, as you can get lost in the woods when looking for the right one.
On this list we will include shakers that are produced for children as well as for the adults, so you can pick the right one for you or your child. So, to get things going, here we go!
Our Pick of the 5 Best Egg Shakers
Our first two options are great for musicians and studio recordings. The next 3 are great as toys and musical learning tools for children.
Great for musicians and studio recordings
Great as toys and music learning tools for children
1. Meinl 4-Piece Egg Shaker Set
Meinl 4 piece shaker set is sure to give you everything you need from egg shakers ever. It consists of, as the name suggests, four different egg shakers. They are all different in their sound and are marked soft, medium, loud and extra loud.
The sound difference is really notable when you play them one by one, as the soft one has that crisp, almost hi-hat sound and no after-rattle at all, and loud and extra loud ones have a long rattle with them and much higher pitch of the sound.
These shakers are made to be combined with different instruments like cajon and drum sets and can be combined together to be played or recorded. Louder ones can be too loud for acoustic setups, but you are sure to get the right combination with these babies. They are cheap pricewise and are made from sturdy plastic so there is no need for worries about them.
2. Tycoon Percussion Egg Shaker
Tycoon Percussion Egg Shaker is another one of the professional egg shakers produced for adult use in music. They come in a pair of two and consist of a plastic casing with the seam in the middle and are filled with metal bearings.
The two shakers make the same sound, which is brittle, classic egg shaker sound and are sure to endure a lot of stress and damage. Of course, they are not indestructible, but if you use them with normal care you should be fine. These are a great addition to any musician whether you play professionally or just for a hobby.
3. Nino Percussion Plastic Egg Shaker Set
The Nino Percussion Egg Shaker Set is pretty much the same as the Meinl 4-piece set but is made for kids primarily. This set consists of four egg shakers, all made from plastic and filled with small metal bearings to make the sound.
They are all different colored and they produce the same sound, which can be a bit boring, but as these are intended for little children, the real use of different sounds is rarely going to be a problem.
These shakers are a bit smaller than the normal shakers and as such are perfect for little kids to be playing them, whether at home or in a music class. Also, they can be used as toys or to learn colors, and they are sturdy enough to survive kids beating on them.
All in all, this is a great little set for your children to start learning about music.
4. Lovermusic Wooden Egg Shaker
Lovermusic’s Egg Shaker is a great wooden shaker. It’s made from wood, so you can be sure it’s not dangerous if the kid puts it in the mouth or something. They are mainly produced for kids, and as such is a little bit smaller and are made to be durable.
The sound on these things is a bit quieter then in the plastic ones, simply because of the materials used for building it, so it’s an actually perfect present for your children if you don’t want to listen to loud rattling all day long.
5. Kunyida 7Pcs Wooden Percussion Musical Egg
These cute egg shakers are made for kids‘ use and you can tell that just by looking at them. Kunyida 7 piece set is a brightly colored and beautifully painted set of 7 wooden egg shakers that your children will absolutely love. They are made from wood and are painted with non-toxic colors, but still, it’s not advised you let your children put them in their mouths. They are declared as 3+ age for use.
Sound-wise these are not for professional use and they all have the same sound, but your kids will not care for musical nuances while playing with them. Being wooden, they have muffled sound, which is great if you want to avoid them going on your nerves. Also, these can be used in an Easter egg hunt as they are so beautifully painted in different animals or prints.
More About Egg Shakers
Egg shakers are usually played as a sort of a backing sound, used to give ambiance to the song itself. The two most used ways of playing include just shaking the egg shaker up and down, giving it almost closed hi-hat sound or twirling it and creating the iconic rattle-snake sound (similar to the tambourine) that can be great to giving the jive to the song and making it so much better.
Egg shakers are most known for the use in the Brazilian folk music, samba most notedly, where they have a big part in that iconic sound and are responsible for giving samba that fast-paced tempo and passion you can feel every time you listen to it, almost as if you’re in the carnival yourself.
Also, they are heavily used by today’s music producers around the world to give that subtle sound in the background when recording all sorts of genres and music styles and are usually used live when playing acoustic gigs.
Because of their size and price, they are a no-brainer on whether to buy them and can be taken everywhere, since they can easily fit in your pocket and they don’t need any maintenance or protection. Also, they are a favorite children instrument, as they are easy to use and are used around the world in music classes to help educate children on music.
As such, there are different ones made for children specifically, with bright colors and fun prints and professional music ones that look… well, more professional.
Conclusion
We hope we helped you with choosing your perfect egg shakers. Even though they are often neglected and overlooked, they are an incredibly versatile and handy thing to have whether you’re a professional musician and producer, or just hobbyist playing at home.
Also, these are great for your children to start learning about music with them and you can play with them together with your child, bonding and spending quality time together with them.
We picked the top 5 in our opinion, as there are a lot of options on the market and you can be sure that whichever you buy from this list you won’t make a mistake.
Featured image by: Cody McComas from USA [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
.jpg){kind=link}