Christmas is in the air at my house! We’re listening to Christmas music, baking Christmas cookies and making Christmas crafts! This week we made Toilet Paper Roll Figurines. I was so happy with how these turned out! (Shout out to our AMAZING babysitter who took the brunt of the work by doing the painting with the kids!) We made Frosty the Snowman, Santa (you can’t really tell he’s Santa Claus because the three-year-old painted him purple- what other colour would you use???), an elf, Rudolph, an angel (yes it’s blue- that was the two-year old), and a Christmas Tree. I like them because at first glance you can’t really tell it’s a toilet paper roll. They are very cheap to make, and you only need a couple of supplies. Let’s get started!

Supplies:

• Toilet Paper Rolls
• Exacto Knife
• Scissors
• Paint and brushes
• Pencil
• PLUS markers and stickers to decorate them (not pictured)

Instructions:

1. Draw the outline of the character you want to cut out.
2. Measure about half an inch in the middle where you won’t cut. If you accidentally cut it (as I did twice) just tape the back. Can you tell which ones I had to tape??? Draw lines down so it’s easy to see. I liked to cut out the heads entirely, then leave strips of roll at the neck.
3. Cut it out, making sure to leave sections uncut so you keep it attached to the roll.  I’d use the Exacto knife in the hard to get to places, and various sized scissors for the rest. If you cut it out and find it’s not symmetrical it’s easy just to trim bits away at that point. Erase the pencil marks. (Look at those adorable little toilet paper roll characters!) TIP: Don’t use brute force with the knife. If you’re having trouble try swiping over the same small spot several times until it goes through. Then push the blade through and saw gently.
4. Paint. While the cardboard is still wet, gently pull out the parts that stick out, such as arms and legs. This will make the figure flat, allowing it to stick out from the tube.
   

   

5. Allow to dry, then use stickers and markers to add facial features, buttons, scarves, the puff balls on tops of hats, the bells on elves shoes and more!

The different angles:

All the completed Figurines:

(They are so cute!) The cutting takes some time, so think about doing that ahead of time. Older children will be able to cut out some of their own, but be sure to supervise appropriately- especially with the knife.

Admittedly, it’s difficult to tell what the angel and Santa are supposed to be- but those little girls sure are proud of their work! What a lovely way to spend an afternoon.

If you tried out other figures be sure to tell me what you made! You could try making a whole toilet paper roll nativity! Merry Christmas!