Most people automatically put their empty toilet paper rolls in the bin {recycling bin hopefully}, however if you have small children you should stop this straight away. Toilet paper rolls are one of, if not the greatest, recyclable craft item ever... and the best thing is every home has an abundant supply of them. Another big bonus of toilet paper rolls is they're free and they can be used for so many different craft projects. Our latest creation has been toilet paper houses for our peg dolls.
* This post contains some affiliate links *
HOW TO MAKE TOILET PAPER HOUSES IN LESS THAN 5 MINUTES
** Please note this craft activity is intended to be done by children over 5yrs old who have developed scissor and writing skills {under adult supervision} or by adults themselves **
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
- Toilet Rolls
- Egg carton
- Scissors
- Pen
The beauty of this craft activity is that all items needed can be found around the house for free. It also probably takes longer to gather all the supplies than it does to actually make the toilet paper roll houses. Fast, free and easy... yes please!
HOW TO CREATE TOILET PAPER ROLL HOUSES
1. Cut the egg carton base into individual pieces
2. Trim the edges to create little cap roofs
3. Measure the door on the toilet roll
4. Draw the door frame
5. Carefully cut out the door frame
6. Draw on window frames
7. Put egg carton lid roofs on top of toilet paper rolls
8. Decorate your houses {optional}
The first step you need to do is to cut out each of the egg holders in the egg carton into individual pieces by cutting in between each row and down the centre of the carton base. Once they're separated they'll have a square edge, trim the edges off so they have rounded edges and look like little round caps.
Next take your peg doll, fairy, elf, gnome {whatever figurine you will be using with your houses} and hold it up against the toilet paper roll to measure the height and width needed for the door frame to allow them to fit inside. Draw a frame on with pen and then carefully cut it out with scissors. This can be a bit fiddly so is easier to do using small scissors. Once it's cut out your figurine should fit easily inside the door frame.
You can add character to your houses by drawing on different window designs {maybe take a bit more care than we did}. You could also cut these out, but that will require a stanley knife as it's too tricky with scissors. To finish off your toilet paper houses add the egg carton roof on top. The roof should fit on nice and snug, but still be easy to remove.
As you can see from our photos I kept our designs really simple and haven't properly decorated them yet. I'm planning on painting each roof a colour of our peg dolls so that we can use the houses for colour sorting as well as imaginary play. I might also make some more and decorate them as toad stools or tree stump houses with paints and pen details. For now the girls are having lots of fun using the houses with our different felt play mats and if they get a little rough and accidentally destroy them, it'll be super easy to make some more.
Do you have fun using toilet paper rolls for craft?
You can find more toilet paper craft ideas on my pinterest board.
Toni x
Disclosure - This post contains some affiliate links which means I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you, should you make a purchase. Our peg dolls and play mat are from My Big World Playscapes on Etsy.
