Toilet tissue roll crafting ideas for the whole family
Don’t let your empty toilet roll go to waste - get creative and crafty with your little ones to turn them into everything from colourful flowers to bunnies, owls, and spooky Halloween creations.
There are hours of fun to be had with toilet paper rolls when you use your imagination. All you need for your family-friendly crafts are:
- A few empty toilet rolls
- PVA glue
- Scissors
- Colourful paints
- Paper
- Various decorations
Here are a variety of DIY toilet paper roll craft ideas for children that’ll keep you and your family entertained all afternoon. Not only are there tons of crazy characters to make, but re-using your toilet rolls is also a cheap and easy way to have fun with the family that’s environmentally friendly, too.
What to do with empty toilet tissue rolls - toilet paper roll crafts ideas
There are so many things you can do with empty toilet rolls to keep kids entertained. Below we’ve put together a selection of amazing ideas to help get you started with some toilet roll craft ideas.
Whether you’re pirates at sea or explorers looking out for wild animals, there’s tons of fun to be had with a pair of indoor binoculars. Simply:
1. Glue two loo rolls together
2. Paint & let them dry
3. Glue a piece of string to the end of both tubes
4. Let your artistic license loose and decorate
These cute pooches are super simple to make - and the perfect way to brighten up a rainy day. All you’ll need is:
1. Toilet roll tubes
2. Coloured card for the ears and tongue.
3. String for its tail
4. Glue
5. Colouring pens
All you need is some paint and a few bits of string to make these friendly octopuses come to life. To make them, just:
1. Paint and let it dry
2. Make small holes in the bottom with scissors
3. Use string to make tentacles
4. Draw on a happy face
Transforming a grey loo roll into a colourful, beautiful parrot is simple. All you’ll need is:
1. Coloured paper or any feathers you find in your garden
2. Glue
3. Your imagination!
4. Pipe cleaners for feet
Thirteen toilet tissue roll arts and crafts ideas
Below we’ve rounded up thirteen of our favourite quick and easy toilet paper roll crafts for kids to give you some more inspiration when you get started.
1. Ladybirds
Paint your toilet roll tube black then use a red coloured card and PVA glue to stick on a pretty pair of ladybird wings. Once you’ve made the body, all you need to do is use a black pen or paint to draw on the spots.
2. Farm animals
Chickens are a simple toilet paper roll farm animal to make with some coloured cardboard and an empty loo roll tube. Paint the tube yellow, then use red card to make the feathers and glue them on top. You can also make pigs, sheep and cows quite easily too by cutting their ears and tails out of card and decorating with paint.
3. Toilet paper roll people
Create a whole gang of toilet roll people with a few tubes and some colourful cardboard. Cut out arms and legs from card and stick them on with PVA glue, or poke in
some crazy coloured pipe cleaners. Finish off your people by drawing on a smiley face and adding some string for hair.
4. Bunnies
Bunnies are super quick and easy to make. Grab some glue to stick on the googly eyes, a little nose made from cardboard, and some string whiskers to make the face. Then use coloured cardboard to cut out some big ears and glue them to the top of your tube.
5. Fish
Create pretty fish with tissue paper, colourful cardboard, and a toilet roll. Cover your toilet roll in scales made of colourful cards, then add strips of tissue paper to the bottom to create a fishtail effect. Finish off by sticking on googly eyes.
6. Rocket ships
If you’ve got wannabe astronauts on your hands, they’ll love our rocket ship toilet paper roll crafts. Simply paint the tubes red or blue, glue a stick to the bottom, make a small cone out of card for the tip and add paper straws into the tube.
7. Owl
To make toilet roll paper owls, paint the tube in owl colours, draw or stick on a large pair of eyes, and then make some wings out of cardboard to glue onto the sides. Feathers and some feet made out of cardboard can also be added to finish off your creation. Why not hang them around the house or in house plants.
8. Monsters
Spooky monsters are super easy toilet roll paper craft to make. Paint your tubes in bright colours then use a marker pen to draw on a scary face. Use scissors to cut out shapes from the top of the tube and decorate with pipe cleaners and string to give your monsters each their own scary personality.
9. Unicorns
Magical unicorns are quick and easy to make. Paint a tube white or pink to start. Draw on some eyes and eyelashes using a marker pen. Make some pointy ears and a horn out of colourful card to glue on top. Finish off your unicorn by making them a colourful tail out of lots of bright pieces of string and glue it to the back. Cover it in glitter for a magical finishing touch.
10. Candles
Make a faux-candle decoration by painting your toilet roll holders white then making some card flames to glue on the top out of yellow cardboard. Make a circular base and top for your tube out of cardboard and glue them together with PVA glue.
11. Mermaids
Paint your toilet roll in a skin colour before drawing on a face with a marker pen. Cut out hair, a shell bra, a skirt, and a tail out of colourful card. Decorate these with glitter pens if you like to add some sparkle, before using PVA glue to put your mermaid together.
12. Flowers
A slightly more advanced toilet roll craft to try out is creating flowers. You’ll need a good pair of scissors and a steady hand - so adults should always supervise younger children with this activity. First, paint your toilet rolls, then flatten them using your hands. Cut them into small circle strips using the scissors. Glue four of the individual circle strips together to make a flower shape. Use the remaining roll to cut out a stem.
13. Butterflies
You can use the same technique as the flowers to make colourful butterflies. Once you’ve used the strips to create the wing shape, simply finish off by gluing on a small pipe cleaner down the middle for the butterfly body.
Here are some examples of cool crafts created by our community:
Don’t forget to tag us in all your wonderful creations on Instagram ( @BabySoft_sa) to show off your toilet tissue roll crafts and for even more great parenting advice and tips from us, visit the Baby Soft® Parenting hub.
