Homemade Drum for The Little Drummer Boy

One of our preschool activities this week was learning about The Little Drummer Boy. It’s not a story from the Bible, but it is a great Christmas song and story. To add to the story, we created a homemade drum! I had been saving a hot chocolate tub for a while because I knew it would be good for a craft someday. Turns out, it was perfect for making a drum!

Here’s what you need for the homemade drum:

• large canister (like a hot chocolate one)
• paper
• hot glue gun (or some other type of glue)
• bells
• pipe cleaners
• rope
• drill (or something to poke a hole with!)

If you want your drum to hang around your neck, then start by by drilling 2 holes on either side of the canister. Then thread the rope into the hole and tie a knot so it stays inside the canister. Then place the lid back on the canister.

I made the mistake of adding paper around the canister first and then I had to do “surgery” on the drum to get the rope in the hole!

Then cover the canister with paper and glue it on. I used a hot glue gun because it glues well and the glue dries quickly.

I added some yellow paper to the top and bottom of the red paper. I also glued this down with a hot glue gun.

Then I glued on pipe cleaners and bells to decorate it. And that’s all you need to do to make a homemade drum!

Y0u can pat the drum with your hands or use sticks! The boys LOVED playing with the drum! It actually sounded like a drum! And the bells were a nice addition!

After we made the drum, we played it while I sang The Little Drummer Boy song. Whenever we sang the part “Pa Rum Pa Pum Pum”, the boys would take turns patting the drum. They loved it! I also used The Little Drummer Boy printables found from the blog Wildflower Ramblings.

I love this time of year…so many wonderful Christmas activities to celebrate the gift of our Savior!