Life in Lape Haven

Category - Family

A Family’s Review of “Little Image-Bearers”

A Family's Review of Little Image-Bearers. Life in Lape Haven. Little Image-Bearers is a new faith-based Christian children's series. What did my family think of it?

If you were to ask me to name good children’s programs to help your child learn, I could easily rattle off a long list of quality shows that I used to watch or that my kids love to watch now, some on repeat.

(This post contains affiliate links, which means that at no additional cost to you, I may receive a small commission when you use the link. For full details, see my disclosure.)

But if you were to ask me to name good FAITH-BASED children’s programs that I loved or that my children enjoy, well, sadly that list is remarkably shorter. Aside from the old school favorites of Gospel Bill and McGee & Me or the ever-fabulous Veggie Tales and What’s in the Bible?, Christian kids’ programming generally leaves A LOT to be desired.

Which is why I was so pleasantly surprised when my family sat down to check out a new faith-based children’s series, Little Image-Bearers.A Family's Review of Little Image-Bearers. Life in Lape Haven. Little Image-Bearers is a new faith-based Christian children's series. What did my family think of it?

From the first cheerful greeting of “Hello, fellow image-bearer!” to the sweet sign off of “May the Lord bless you and keep you,” my children were taken with this simple but high-quality show.

Professional without being overly polished and beautifully reminiscent of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood (but a little cooler and funnier), each episode is hosted by Mr. Caleb Phipps, who teaches young viewers about God and foundational biblical truths through stories, experiments, crafts, puppets, and visits with local friends.

This adorable program is not only well-produced, well-written, relatable, and delightfully delivered, but it was instantly enjoyed by our entire family – not just our little preschooler. When we were watching the first episode, my 7-year-old was sitting beside me, and he sweetly looked over at me and said, “I like this.” Later he added, “They need to make a second season.” We hadn’t even finished the first season yet!

A Family's Review of Little Image-Bearers. Life in Lape Haven. Little Image-Bearers is a new faith-based Christian children's series. What did my family think of it?

As they were already sharing their thoughts when we watched it, I asked my boys to give me an overall review of the Little Image-Bearers series once we’d seen all the episodes, especially since they fit right into the show’s target demographic of 2-10 years old.

Isaiah, my 3-year-old, is definitely a fan of “Image Bears,” as he calls it. He constantly answers back to “Mr. Caleb” throughout the shows, and he likes to tell me about what happened with Bobo Bear and Lala Redhead (the puppets) from various favorite moments of the series. When I asked him what he liked about Little Image-Bearers, he pointed to all the characters on the DVD cover. So he likes it all! 🙂

Josiah (7 years old) said, “I really like it because it tells me more about the Bible, and some I don’t know. I like the parts where we meet new people. I also like it because he’s calm and not crazy. It teaches you stuff, like I didn’t know that about golf carts. It’s cool.”

At nearly-10, Elijah was predictably skeptical about a “kid’s program.” But even my oldest, who has already outgrown Happy Meals, was happy to sit down and watch one episode after another. His opinion: “It’s fun to watch, and the puppets are enjoyable. My favorite part is the experiments and activities. It’s not just for little kids, and it’s not babyish.”

A Family's Review of Little Image-Bearers. Life in Lape Haven. Little Image-Bearers is a new faith-based Christian children's series. What did my family think of it?

Hearing my boys share their opinions, even my husband chimed in with some thoughts, “As a parent, I appreciate that Mr. Phipps is laidback and approachable, not over-the-top, and he keeps the messages simple and understandable without talking down to kids. It’s a show that I wouldn’t mind having to watch or listen to over and over in a day.”

(Every mom, dad, grandparent, and babysitter knows how important that last part is!)

Suffice it to say that Little Image-Bearers has officially been added to our list of good faith-based children’s programming and has the Lape family’s seal of approval (It also has one from the Dove Foundation, for all ages!) We are looking forward to the next season already!

You can order the series as either a DVD or a Digital Download on their website and follow the progress of future releases or get behind the scenes sneaks via Little Image-Bearers on social media. To find out more about the series, visit littleimagebearers.com 

Thank you, Caleb & Abbey Phipps, for the chance to review the series!

 

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Free Online Educational Resources to Keep Your Child Learning

Free Online Educational Resources to keep your child learning. Life in Lape Haven. Whether it's a school break, sickness, or summer vacation, it's important for our children to keep learning when they aren't in school. Here are some online resources to help you keep their minds active and growing.

Right now my family should be on a road trip to Florida to enjoy a much-anticipated, long-time-in-coming Spring Break vacation. Instead, we’re at home, putting away all our vacation clothes and supplies and making plans to hang out around the house (and outside) for the next few weeks, just like so many other in the nation and around the world, thanks to the spread of the Coronavirus (Covid-19).

With three weeks (at least) of limited excursions out and about and our first taste of “homeschooling” our boys (which we’ve considered in the past) because of the mandatory school closures, I’ve been collecting links to free educational resources from all over the internet as friends, family members, and teachers pass them along.

And I figured as long I was making a list, I’d pass them along to you as well because we’re all going to need a little help over the next few weeks to make the most of this unexpected time at home.

Some of these are ones my boys are already using at school or home, but some of them are completely new to us. (Also, this post may contain affiliate links, which means that, at no cost to you, I may receive a small commission when you use those links. See my full disclosure for more details.)

Free Online Educational Resources to keep your child learning. Life in Lape Haven. Whether it's a school break, sickness, or summer vacation, it's important for our children to keep learning when they aren't in school. Here are some online resources to help you keep their minds active and growing.
MATH

Prodigy – Prodigy is an online game where players solve math problems to defeat their opponents. Elijah has enjoyed this one since 1st grade.

Khan Academy

 

SCIENCE

NASA has tons of activities and videos for students to explore, set up by grade levels.

Mystery Doug

National Geographic

 

WRITING/TYPING

Typing Club

Nitro Type teaches typing with a fun racing game that my boys like to challenge me on. Since I’ve kept my typing skills rather sharp, I tend to beat them pretty soundly, but they are too impressed to be upset.

 

READING

Scholastic offers free day-to-day projects to help your kids keep learning.

Squiggle Park

Storyline

Amazon also offers lots of free and low-cost ebooks for all ages. Even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can use the free Kindle app to access them. You can also sign up for Kindle Unlimited Membership Plans

 

SOCIAL STUDIES

History for Kids 

Colonial Williamsburg – This just requires the creation of a FREE account (you don’t have to be a teacher). They have tons of videos with web activities to go along with them.

 

ART

Artist at Heart will be doing daily live videos with free art lessons online over the next few weeks via their Facebook.

From Travel & Leisure, here is a list of 12 museums that offer free virtual tours of their galleries.

 

Additional Educational Resources:

Our boys absolutely love ABCMouse.com, and they are currently offering free access for schools during this time, but it does need to be requested by a school administrator. (https://www.ageoflearning.com/schools) However, they also have a free 30-day trial if you can’t get it for your entire school.

ABCya.com is another favorite site that has free options and covers all subject areas.

Meet Penny also shared a huge list of educational companies offering free subscription services right now.

NESCA (Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents) has good advice on how to make the most of this time to truly benefit your children.

Have a site to add to our list of online educational resources? Let me know! We love finding new ones to share.

 

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The Easter Basket Tradition That’ll Point Your Children to Jesus

The Easter Basket Tradition That'll Point Your Children to Jesus - Life in Lape Haven. When I saw this mom's idea for presenting her kids' Easter basket in a way that shared the gospel and left an eternal impact, I knew we would have to start a new tradition that very year.

A few years ago, I saw a mom’s post on Facebook about the special way she’d presented her children’s Easter baskets that year, and I knew I was going to steal her idea for every Easter to come.

(This post contains affiliate links, which means that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission when you use the links. See my full disclosure for more.)

The Easter Basket Tradition That'll Point Your Children to Jesus - Life in Lape Haven. When I saw this mom's idea for presenting her kids' Easter basket in a way that shared the gospel and left an eternal impact, I knew we would have to start a new tradition that very year.

Growing up, our Easter baskets were just a fun tradition of goodies that we all looked forward to on Easter morning. But they never really connected to the reason we celebrated Resurrection Sunday. Marshmallow Peeps, jelly beans, Robin Eggs, and big chocolate bunnies don’t exactly clearly point to a risen Savior who gave His life for us. (Although Hershey does make chocolate crosses for Easter if you can find them. I try to grab them early in the season at our Walmart.) It was okay, though, because we knew what Easter was all about.

Easter is such a vital part of Christianity, though, that when I saw how our children’s baskets could be used in a powerfully teachable moment, I didn’t want to miss an opportunity to bring that eternal impact. So we’ve borrowed that random Facebook mom’s Easter basket idea ever since.


While you could easily set this all up to do on Good Friday and leave it until Sunday, we’ve always done it on that Saturday night before Easter.

While it’s usually a very festive and fun for us with egg hunts, sometimes a birthday, lots of preparation for the next day, biblically that Saturday was a sad day. Just the day before, Jesus had been crucified and buried. His disciples were in hiding, confused, disappointed, and fearing for their lives. I imagine there was a heaviness hovering over all creation. Yes, the veil had been torn and the dead had risen to go about the city, but honestly, that’s just mysterious and frightening on an uncertain Saturday without the victory of Sunday morning to make sense of it all.

As a way to mark Saturday and prepare our hearts to celebrate fully on Resurrection Sunday, our new tradition goes a little something like this.

Our New Easter Basket Tradition

I gather our boys in the kitchen, around the table, with their empty Easter baskets. Beforehand, I’ve collected some rocks from our driveway (or you could buy some), and those rocks are sitting in a small bucket nearby, along with a good Sharpie marker.

We start by asking the boys about the Easter story, what happened, and why we celebrate. Inevitably we’ll come to the fact that our sins are why Jesus came to die. So I have the boys give me suggestions of things that they know are wrong or “bad things” that they know they’ve done. We talk about sins that my children can relate to – lying, disobedience, being mean to siblings. Whatever they mention, I will write on a rock or two, and the boys place them in their baskets.

The Easter Basket Tradition That'll Point Your Children to Jesus - Life in Lape Haven. When I saw this mom's idea for presenting her kids' Easter basket in a way that shared the gospel and left an eternal impact, I knew we would had to start a new tradition that very year.

Once they have at least a small collection of rocks, we talk about the wages of sin, as in Romans 6:23, and how sin “earns” us death.

Then we discuss how we can be forgiven of those sins because of Jesus’s sacrifice – His choosing to take our punishment for us because He loves us. At the end of our short discussion, we cover the baskets with a red cloth to symbolize His blood that was shed for us, covering our sins.

Saturday night, after the boys are in bed, I’ll take out the rocks and fill their baskets with all the expected Easter goodies. Then I cover it all back up again.

On Sunday morning, we do a quick talk about how Jesus rose from the dead and how His death and resurrection mean new life for us, too.

Then comes the unveiling. Even though we’ve done this before, and they know what’s going to happen, they are still excited. The boys remove the cloth to find that their rocks – their “sins”- have been exchanged for lots of good things.

The Easter Basket Tradition That'll Point Your Children to Jesus - Life in Lape Haven. When I saw this mom's idea for presenting her kids' Easter basket in a way that shared the gospel and left an eternal impact, I knew we would had to start a new tradition that very year.

We remind our boys, as they dive into the goodies in their baskets, that Jesus takes our sin and our punishment, and in their place, He gives us forgiveness, new life, freedom, an eternity in Heaven, and so much more.

It’s a victorious, joyous, tangible way to understand, even a little, how much Jesus did for us and how much we have to celebrate and praise Him for on Easter and every day.

 

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How to Survive a Snow Day Without Melting Down

How to Survive a Snow Day without Melting Down - Life in Lape Haven. While snow days, delays, & sick days can be an inconvenience to our every day routine, there are plenty of ways to make the most of the unexpected time and make some special memories with our kids.

While we had a fairly mild December, winter hit hard in January. Any sense of routine we’d manage to get back to after the holidays was extremely difficult to hold onto, thanks to two-hour delays, no-school-at-all-days (including 3 in one week!), and a round of colds that caused a few (minor) sick days.

However, if I’ve learned nothing else over my nearly nine years of motherhood, I know that you have to be flexible and adaptable to change.

Especially on a snow day (or sick days).

So, while I do my best to keep on top of the regular to-do’s of everyday life…for the most part…I also make sure to adjust my expectations of what will get done when the boys are home for a snow day. Unrealistic expectations and trying to do too much only leads to frustration, stress, and a grumpy mommy and kids.

I’ve discovered that a snow day can be miserable or memorable, and it’s all up to my attitude. (Of course, this applies to basically every day and any situation, really.)

Instead of wallowing in the inconveniences (And trust me, I KNOW they aren’t generally convenient. They require rearranging schedules, canceling plans, and letting go of the to-do list), do your best to grab onto the blessing of a special day with your child.

When I make the extra days with my kids less about my routine and more about appreciating the time with them, our days have far fewer meltdowns (from them and me).

So, since we still have quite a bit of winter left (at least here in Ohio), here are some ideas for you of how we’ve been enjoying our unexpected days together:

How to Survive a Snow Day without Melting Down - Life in Lape Haven. While snow days, delays, & sick days can be an inconvenience to our every day routine, there are plenty of ways to make the most of the unexpected time and make some special memories with our kids.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that at no additional cost to you, I may receive a small commission when you use the links. For more details, see my full disclosure.

GO OLD SCHOOL

Winter weather is a perfect time to turn off the screens and break out the board games, card games, and more. Our boys get so excited about these because it requires a whole lot more interaction and togetherness than just picking a movie to watch.

How to Survive a Snow Day without Melting Down - Life in Lape Haven. While snow days, delays, & sick days can be an inconvenience to our every day routine, there are plenty of ways to make the most of the unexpected time and make some special memories with our kids.

Some of our favorites: Carrom (an old game that my family has played for 5 generations), Monopoly, Screaming Eagles (older board game from my husband’s childhood), Spoons, Kings on the Corner, 4-Hand Solitaire (similar to Dutch Blitz, but using 4 different decks of regular playing cards), and puzzles of all kinds.


BUILD SOMETHING

Challenge your kids’ creativity and teamwork skills (and practice letting go of control a bit…Haha) by building something together.

Our boys love traditional blocks and Legos, of course, but there are so many more options! They really enjoy their marble run (The Dad Lab has a great idea for making a simple one with clothes pins and a ruler) and creating a blanket fort. And there’s no end to the ideas they can come up with for a simple cardboard box, some paper towel tubes, and recycled oat boxes or cereal boxes.

If you have little ones, Play-Dough is also a great way to build and play together (you can even make it at home!)

How to Survive a Snow Day without Melting Down - Life in Lape Haven. While snow days, delays, & sick days can be an inconvenience to our every day routine, there are plenty of ways to make the most of the unexpected time and make some special memories with our kids.

GET ARTSY

Most children enjoy coloring, crafting, and painting – if only for the mess they get to create! Break out the crayons, pencils, paints, construction paper, stickers, leftover fabric scraps, and more.

My kids like not only drawing but also writing and illustrating their own books. Just staple or hole punch some blank pages, then tie them together with some ribbon or string (or stock up on some blank-paged journals), and let them develop their inner author!


CLEAN UP

Believe it or not, my kids really jumped on this one. I think most of the thanks goes to the Netflix show “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” (which I purposely had them watch with me, in hopes of inspiring some change), but they also enjoy that sense of accomplishment and a job well done when they pitch in around the house.

How to Survive a Snow Day without Melting Down - Life in Lape Haven. While snow days, delays, & sick days can be an inconvenience to our every day routine, there are plenty of ways to make the most of the unexpected time and make some special memories with our kids.

Josiah recently helped me in the kitchen and was very thorough, even saying how much he liked cleaning. When his older brother came in later with a dirty dish, Josiah was frustrated and ran across the room in a panic, saying, “You’re messing up my cleaning!” (Welcome to my life, kiddo!)

If you take the time to (patiently, calmly, kindly) teach your children the correct way to do a chore or task, they’re much more likely to help out around the house.

GET MOVING

With all that energy not getting spent outside much during a snow day, my boys have to do SOMETHING physically active or things get crazy really quickly.

I start out by turning on some soul-feeding music while we work and play (favorites right now: Seeds Family Worship, Yancy, Hillsong Kids, The Rizers). This pretty much ALWAYS leads to a dance party, and we all get lots of wiggles (& giggles) out!

We’ve also been known to move as much furniture as we can out of the living room and have a little gymnastics practice (mostly cartwheels and summersaults), and my boys also like following their exercise routines from gym class at school.

How to Survive a Snow Day without Melting Down - Life in Lape Haven. While snow days, delays, & sick days can be an inconvenience to our every day routine, there are plenty of ways to make the most of the unexpected time and make some special memories with our kids.

Of course, if it’s the best kind of snow day and you can get outside – GO! Build a snowman, take a winter hike, go sledding, or just walk around the neighborhood.


MAKE A TREAT

Concocting in the kitchen is a great way to teach life skills, warm the house (if you use the oven), make a bit of a mess, and create a few memories.

Hot chocolate is a winter staple here, and it’s super simple to make. I follow the recipe on the back of the Hershey’s Cocoa box (only I use half dark cocoa and half regular!). And cookies are a never-fail crowd pleaser. (These BACON CHOCOLATE CHIP cookies are a unique twist on a classic!)

How to Survive a Snow Day without Melting Down - Life in Lape Haven. While snow days, delays, & sick days can be an inconvenience to our every day routine, there are plenty of ways to make the most of the unexpected time and make some special memories with our kids.

No matter what you do – whether it’s building, reading, playing, dancing, or simply sitting on the couch, watching movies – the best way to survive that unexpected snow day is to treat it like the completely out-of-the-usual day that it is. Adjust your plans and expectations, and let go of what you can from that to-do list.

When you see it as a gift rather than a reason to grumble, your children will look forward to snow days not just as a chance to miss school or play in the snow, but also as an opportunity to spend time together and make memories with you.

Get more ideas & encouragement from this real-life mom as I experience God’s faithfulness through the joy and chaos of motherhood.

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The Courage in God With Us

The Courage in God with Us - Life in Lape Haven. Throughout the Christmas story, each character was given a task that required them to be brave, especially Jesus. And yet, His courage to come live among us now makes it possible for us to have courage to do whatever God has called us to, knowing that He is Immanuel, God with Us.

In the middle of October I was driving our two older boys to the first practice for our church’s children’s Christmas program.

Elijah had auditioned a week or so earlier, and having earned a part in the cast, he was especially excited.

Josiah, on the other hand, was acting rather miserable. We’d had a busy week, and at not-quite-six-years-old, he usually needs more rest than his older brother, so I thought he might just be tired. But when I asked him what was wrong, he surprised me by saying that he didn’t want to go to practice.

I reminded him that he needed to practice in order to be in the program, but he said,

“I don’t want to be in the program.”

Again I was surprised because at the auditions, even though he was too young to really try out for a big part, he’d eagerly followed Elijah in to the other room when they asked for people who wanted to audition for a solo.

So, I dug a little deeper with him.

“Why don’t you want to be in the program? I think you’d have fun.”

To which he replied, with a little quiver in his voice, “It would make me nervous.”

Knowing that Josiah is my more sensitive child, one who is more shy and struggles at points with confidence, his fear hurt my heart.

The Courage in God with Us - Life in Lape Haven. Throughout the Christmas story, each character was given a task that required them to be brave, especially Jesus. And yet, His courage to come live among us now makes it possible for us to have courage to do whatever God has called us to, knowing that He is Immanuel, God with Us.

Because I knew he would do so well – he’d try hard, learn the songs and motions, and have a great time being a part of it all – if he only gave it a chance.

So this is what I told him:

It’s okay to be nervous or a little afraid. I’m pretty sure everyone will be. It’s a big thing to get on stage in front of lots of people.

But guess what? Sometimes it’s good to do things that we’re afraid of. Because you know the good thing about being nervous or afraid? It gives you a chance to be brave. You don’t need courage when you’re doing something you aren’t scared to do. So it’s okay if you’re nervous because I know you have courage.

Plus, when we decide to be brave and do something scary, it gives us a chance to trust God, and we give God a chance to prove that He’s right there with us, to help us do what we can’t do by ourselves.”

Josiah gave me a quiet “Okay,” and we went to practice.

I didn’t realize the impact of our little conversation, though, until the next week at practice, when he was one of the first kids to volunteer to sing a small line in one of the big numbers. His excitement and pride over being given 3 words to sing by himself (although he does sing them 7 times throughout the song) was precious, and his diligence to practice and work on singing louder and clearer – yes, just those 3 words – has made me so proud of him.

The Courage in God with Us - Life in Lape Haven. Throughout the Christmas story, each character was given a task that required them to be brave, especially Jesus. And yet, His courage to come live among us now makes it possible for us to have courage to do whatever God has called us to, knowing that He is Immanuel, God with Us.

It’s also made me think about how so much of the Christmas story required bravery and courage. Each person who was a part of the events of Jesus’s birth had to decide to trust God even when they were nervous, afraid, intimidated, or even in danger. Mary, Joseph, shepherds, wise men – God called them all to rather overwhelming tasks. They bravely chose to be obedient, to submit to God’s plan, to have faith that He would be right there with them to help them do what they couldn’t do on their own.

And yet, in some ways, Jesus showed the greatest courage of all.

While I don’t think God actually fears anything, and yes, He knew the outcome and the reason, He also knew what it would cost Him. Humbling Himself, the King of Kings, to leave the gloriousness of Heaven to come dwell among us – the lost, sinful, and broken–in our fallen world. He came loving us and longing for relationship with us, knowing that despite all He would sacrifice, He would be “despised and rejected” by so many (Isaiah 53:3).

And still He came because He wanted to be Immanuel, God with us. (Matthew 1:23)

With us – His Holy Spirit in us – so that when we face challenges, trials, or heartache, He can strengthen us, equip us, and guide us like never before, helping us do things that we can’t do on our own.

With us, so that when He calls us to follow Him, we know He’ll never leave us or forsake us, and we can trust in His good plans for us (even if they intimidate us some times).

With us, so that we can know Him, His grace, and forgiveness and have an eternal relationship with Him, and we can boldly approach the throne as children of God.

With us, so that we have the power to be His witnesses, sharing His love with others as courageously as He did.

And “with us,” so that when a tender-hearted little five-year-old chooses to step out and be brave despite his nerves on the day of his first Christmas program, God will be right there beside him, ready to prove His presence with overwhelming peace and confidence, strengthening Josiah’s faith and trust in the One he’s so proudly singing about and celebrating.

“Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand.” – Isaiah 41:10

Feature photo by Greyson Joralemon on Unsplash

Get more ideas & encouragement from this real-life mom as I experience God’s faithfulness through the joy and chaos of motherhood.

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Homemade “Little Drummer Boy” Drum Christmas Ornament

Homemade Little Drummer Boy Drum Christmas Ornament - Life in Lape Haven. These adorable little drum Christmas ornaments are an easy, affordable craft for you and your kids to make for your Christmas tree or as a holiday decoration.

Growing up with a brother whose birthday is 2 days before Christmas, I learned something: You always keep the birthday and Christmas separate.

Then I married a man who shares his 5-days-before-Christmas birthday with his father, and the separation thing was confirmed as fairly universal for December babies.

And then, of course, I had a baby in December, less than 2 weeks before Christmas. And while last year, I was good and  managed to pull off a non-Christmas birthday party theme for our littlest guy that still went okay with our already-up Christmas décor in the house, this year I’m breaking the birthday-Christmas separation rule… at least a little bit!

Isaiah will still get individual presents for both days, and his birthday presents will not be wrapped in Christmas paper (a big pet peeve for some December babies).

But the theme is “The Little Drummer Boy,” which is totally Christmas….but also TOTALLY Isaiah.

(By the way, this post contains affiliate links, which means that at no additional cost to you, I may receive a small commission if you purchase through those links. For more, see my full disclosure.)

Homemade Little Drummer Boy Drum Christmas Ornament - Life in Lape Haven. These adorable little drum Christmas ornaments are an easy, affordable craft for you and your kids to make for your Christmas tree or as a holiday decoration.

From the time he learned to clap, we noticed that our youngest has pretty decent rhythm. At barely a year old, he was mimicking the intro to The Greatest Showman’s “This is the Greatest Show,” complete with well-timed “chhh” sounds for the stomping. He watches the drummer at church closely, and he fights his way into the storage room where his daddy’s older electronic drums are set up. (It was originally for his older brothers, but he pretty much thinks they’re his now.)

The icing on the cake was the day I showed him For King & Country’s version of “The Little Drummer Boy,” and that video overtook his love for “Baby Shark”! Hallelujah!!!!

So, to help tie the party theme in with all our regular Christmas decorations, my mom and I put together some super cute little drum ornaments and drumsticks to add to our tree. I also made a slightly larger drum to use as additional decoration and for Isaiah to play with.

Since they turned out so well and were not hard at all once we figured out a process, I knew someone else out there would like to know how we did it. So here you go.

Homemade Little Drummer Boy Drum Christmas Ornament - Life in Lape Haven. These adorable little drum Christmas ornaments are an easy, affordable craft for you and your kids to make for your Christmas tree or as a holiday decoration.

LITTLE DRUMMER BOY

DRUM CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS

WHAT YOU’LL NEED
SUPPLIES

Round Cardboard Tube (the sturdier the better)

Red Acrylic Paint (Or whatever color you want)

Fabric

Gold Elastic Ribbon (Or similar rope or tie material)

TOOLS

Ruler

Pencil

Paper

Box Cutter or Hacksaw (depending on tubing thickness)

Paintbrushes

Scissors

Needle

Skewer, Nut Pick, or Equivalent “Tool” 🙂

Homemade Little Drummer Boy Drum Christmas Ornament - Life in Lape Haven. These adorable little drum Christmas ornaments are an easy, affordable craft for you and your kids to make for your Christmas tree or as a holiday decoration.

The true idea for the drums came from my mom, who’d saved some industrial cardboard tubes from my grandpa’s screen printing shop a couple of weeks ago. While she’d originally planned some other craft for the tubing, she decided that making drum ornaments were a better use for them. (Thanks, Mom!)

So, while you probably don’t have access to the cardboard tube we used, you could use mailing tubes, an oat box, or even paper towel tubes. However, remember the sturdier the material, the longer your ornament will last – especially with kids around!

The fabric we bought was in the upholstery section and has kind of a suede-y feel. We wanted something strong enough to not rip once holes were poked in it and the ribbon was tied through and pulled taut. We also wanted it to look like something a drum head would be made of, obviously. Thankfully the material was on sale, and we only bought half a yard. Depending on how many drums you’re making, you really don’t even need that much. (So far, we’ve made 6 drum ornaments and one larger drum with plans for at least 4 more ornaments for my nephews and niece).


HOW WE MADE THEM
1. Cut the tubing into drum size

Our drum ornaments were 2-1/2 inches tall. The larger oat box drum was 4 inches. Depending on the size of your tube, decide how tall your drum needs to be. Then, using a ruler, measure the height you want, and make a pencil mark. Turn the tube, and add another mark at the same height. Once you’ve gone around the entire tube, you can use a piece of paper wrapped around the tube to connect your marks and draw a complete line all the way around. You can repeat that process for each additional drum down the tube.

Using a box cutter or hacksaw or similar sharp tool, carefully cut along your lines.

2. Paint your drums

We used acrylic red paint and paint brushes that we already had and painted the drums, making sure to keep the strokes on the same direction. We even let all three boys help us, and their drums turned out just fine.  It only took two coats for the ornaments to be fully covered.

3. Cut out the drum head

This was, by far, the trickiest part of the process, as we needed to figure out the right shape and size. We settled on a rounded hexagon shape, and then my mom cut it down more to a slightly sheriff’s badge shape. 🙂

To save you time, I’ve scanned our pattern, so you can download it and resize as needed. This is the size we used for the ornaments, and this is the size I used for the larger drum.

Just trace the pattern on the backside of your fabric, and cut it out. You’ll need two drum heads for each drum you’re making.

Homemade Little Drummer Boy Drum Christmas Ornament - Life in Lape Haven. These adorable little drum Christmas ornaments are an easy, affordable craft for you and your kids to make for your Christmas tree or as a holiday decoration.

4. Lace your drum heads together

On the underside of each drum head, use a needle to poke a small hole in the center of each of the six points, leaving a little fabric so the tab won’t rip easily.

To make the holes large enough for our gold elastic ribbon to go through, we widened them using a nut pick or wooden skewer, because that’s what we found worked. 🙂

Once you have two drum heads with ribbon holes, lay one top-side down and place the other on it, top-side up, but so that the points are staggered, not directly aligned. Then lace them together, taking your ribbon through the top side of each. Stitch them until you have only two or three holes left. Don’t pull the ribbon too tight, as you’ll want enough ribbon to stretch over the sides of the entire drum.

We didn’t measure and the cut the ribbon. We just worked from the spool, leaving extra length on the end to be tied off later.

5. Put the drum heads on the drum

Separating your laced drum heads, slide them over the (dried) drum. Once it’s all together, adjust the drum heads so that they are centered and even on the drum. Then adjust the ribbon to be spaced neatly and taut.

(Note: On my larger drum, I used two of the plastic oat box lids on the top and bottom of my drum – cut from an oat box- to give it more stability since I knew Isaiah would be handling it.)

To finish it up, lace the last sections together, adjust your ribbons, cut it from the spool, tie the ends together, trim them, and tuck them under one of the points of the drum head.

 

TO HANG THE DRUM ORNAMENTS

You could either just set the drums in the branches of your tree (which is what I did), or you can attach an ornament hook to one of the ribbons.

Homemade Little Drummer Boy Drum Christmas Ornament - Life in Lape Haven. These adorable little drum Christmas ornaments are an easy, affordable craft for you and your kids to make for your Christmas tree or as a holiday decoration.

BONUS:  Drumsticks!

For our little drummer boy, we couldn’t have drums without some drumsticks! So here’s how we made some simple drumsticks for the tree.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

Dowel Rods (matched to fit into the knob – ours were .312 in diameter)

Wooden Knobs (ours were a 3/8” hole)

Paint

Glue

Ribbon


HOW MAKE A DRUMSTICK

1. Glue a wooden knob onto the end of a dowel rod. We just squirted glue into the knob hole and put the dowel in. Apply a little pressure, then set it aside to dry. You could also use hot glue. We placed ours in a Mason jar while they dried.

2. Once the glue dries, trace a ring around the center of the knob. We used a piece of ribbon that was the right thickness. Just wrap it around the knob, and trace with a pencil.

3. Paint the ring. Again, we put them in the jar as they dried. Then we erased any showing pencil mark.

4. Criss-cross two drumsticks slightly and tie them together (around and between) using a ribbon.

5. Stick them in the tree or on top of a larger drum.

There you go! Cute little drum ornaments and drumsticks for your Christmas tree or other holiday decorating.

Homemade Little Drummer Boy Drum Christmas Ornament - Life in Lape Haven. These adorable little drum Christmas ornaments are an easy, affordable craft for you and your kids to make for your Christmas tree or as a holiday decoration.

 

 

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