A rainstick is a long, hollow tube which is filled with small baubles such as beads or beans and has small pins arranged helically on its inside surface. When the stick is upended, the beads fall to the other end of the tube, making a sound reminiscent of a rainstorm as they bounce off the pins. The Rainstick is generally used to create atmospheric sound effects or as a percussion instrument.

The rainstick is generally considered to have been invented by Chilean natives in South America, and was played in the belief that it could bring about rainstorms.

Rainsticks are made from the dead wood skeleton of a cactus plant. After the cactus plant dies, the exterior thorns and flesh fall of leaving the skeleton. The thorns are then pressed back into the skeleton. Tiny stones and pebbles are poured into the hollow stick and the ends are sealed. A rain like sound is made when the small stones hit the thorns.