Last week we finally got around to make some crafts of the toilet paper and paper towel rolls we’ve saved. We searched the internet for inspiration. It was not too big a surprise when my 3 yo daughter, the birdwatcher, wanted to make binoculars and a castle for Cinderella, and when my 2 yo son was eager to follow the princess lead but also got excited by cars.
First we painted the rolls, and for that we still use bits from the maternity box that has offered us so much free material for crafts. Painting with the spongy bits of the madras makes the painting easy even for the 2 yo. Next step was to cut windows for the castle, which both kids could easily do, when I first cut strips of the coloured paper they chose. Then we glued the windows, doors and roofs on. Unfortunately paper glue wasn’t the best on acrylic paint but we managed to press the windows on. My 3 yo was also able to do the initial cuts for the top part of the wall but I helped with the horizontal cut. Then they decorated the towers and walls with glitter glue (since Tiimari, the biggest crafts/junk shop chain, got bust, they are emptying their storage for up to -70%. I’ve been filling up my storage…). All in all, quite a good project for toddlers.
We also made binoculars and a racing car but even though we’ve been doing these over a few days, we kind of ran out of steam, so we made do with very simple prototypes. To get the wheels turn on the car, I would have attached the tyres with paper clips like in the original picture, if I’d have some at home.
Free But Fun 
I love it! Like I said great mind. Lol! The cars are cute too. I will have to try those next.
[…] here to find another crafts idea for Easter and here to find other ideas for toilet […]
Beautiful crafts! Now I get the idea of putting a bead in between the toilet rolls! Great idea!
Thanks! It was a good idea, wish I could say it was mine too but the bead idea came directly from the pictured we googled 🙂
I love these! The castle is my favorite! So pretty! Great job.
Are the chicken pox over?
I have nominated you for a wordpress-family-award, congrats! 🙂 :
http://theblackberryboys.wordpress.com/2014/01/14/wordpress-family-award/
Thanks! And yes, little mr is well, he actually never was really sick.
Thanks for the award, amazing!
Your binoculars are very fancy. (I just taped two plain rolls together with sticky tape. That’s the difference between your crafts and mine!)
Love the car! I have a spare kitchen towel roll as it happens (and a sick child) so I’ll have to show it around and see if it interests anyone.
Did anyone get excited about the roll? I guess the upside with the quarantine is that anything to do is better than nothing, helps with motivating the kids 😉
Not that excited today. We weren’t in true quarantine, though – it was a non-contagious ear infection. I just kept her home from school because she slept so late on account of some interrupted sleep lately and I thought she needed the sleep more than the schooling! And our usual go-to of the pool was off-limits. We ended up at the park instead.
Park sounds pretty good too! Hope the ear (and the sleeps) get better soon!
Aw, the car is so cute! 🙂
Great minds think alike: my 2 yo shares your feeling 😉
those look like great crafts! I love when you find something that can be adapted for different ages!
What a great idea: we should really do the same objects again in a couple of years and then compare the outcome!