Hare's Drum

In today's story, Hare offered his animal friends the gifts of community and music. Let's commemorate that second gift by making our own little drums! Hare made a drum out of a hollow log, but I'm going to guess that more of you have some paper or plastic cups lying around your houses than hollow logs.

-two cups (paper or plastic)

-brown paper bag

-scissors

-rubber bands

-masking tape

-markers

-popsicle sticks (optional)

You can use paper or plastic cups. I happened to have a stack of those red Solo cups lying around from a party I had ages ago (I have a friend who always brings cups to parties). Paper cups would actually be better though; they're easier to cut.

Use your scissors to cut the bottoms off both cups.

Stack the cups so that their cut sides are together. Use masking tape if you have it, because that's easier to decorate. But you can use whatever tape you have!

I drew cool zigzags and polka dots on my drum. What does yours look like? It bet it's neat!

Grab your brown paper bag. Trace around the bottom of your drum about an inch wider than the edge. It doesn't have to be exact!

Cut out your traced circle, then trace around that circle and cut that one out, too. Now you have two paper circles that are roughly the same size.

Lay one of the circles on one end of the drum. Take one of your rubber bands and use it to attach the paper. Depending on the size of your rubber band, it might need to go around the drum twice; mine did! If you have trouble with it, you can get an adult or older sibling to help you.

Do the same thing on the other side of the drum with the second circle. If you ruffle up the edge of the paper, I think it looks nicer.

I didn't decorate my drum heads, but you could! That might make it look really cool.

This is optional, because you can totally play this little drum with your fingers. But I happened to have some popsicle sticks lying around, so I decorated them to match my drum. You could also use chopsticks or bamboo skewers. Or you could take a quick walk and find some small sticks outside!

Enjoy your drum, and thank Hare for his gift of music.