Toilet Paper Roll Dog Marionette from Hairy Maclary
Today, we have an ADORABLE DOG Crafts for kids! It not only combines our love for animals, but also our love for recycling and crafting with Toilet Paper Rolls. We do love all Toilet Paper Roll crafts – especially when they are so cute and easy – and this is just another fab addition to our huge collection!!!
When it comes to crafting with young children, it is sometimes about letting your child’s creativity run riot, and other times, it is a joint team effort – time to sit together and bond and then play with your crafts! This Toilet Paper Roll Dog Marionette is definitely a joint effort!
This Dog DIY article was first published in Nov 2011 and has been updated and republished for you.
We also have more Toilet Paper Roll Marionettes here:
- Dancing Giraffe Marionettes
- Autumn Birds
- And magical Unicorn Marionettes!
Our Dog related Picture Book
Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy, By Lynley Dodd
We love Hairy Maclary.. a hairy little dog that gets up to all sorts of mischief with his dog friends. It usually involved teasing the cats in the area, but there is one cat that all the dogs are scared of. The book is written in verse, which repeats itself (and gets longer) from page to page. The children love this repetition and seeing what “new crazy” dog characters are invented… one of them is Victor van Krumm the sausage dog… who has been the inspiration for today’s post!
DIY Dog Puppet Craft – Materials
- one kitchen towel roll (for a Dachshung, if making a “normal” dog, you only need one toilet paper roll),
- one toilet paper roll for the dog’s head,
- paint,
- twigs,
- googly eyes,
- glue,
- string,
- chestnuts (or similar),
- scissors
This may seem like a “long list” of materials to make this simple Cardboard Tube Craft.. however, I simply listed the materials we used.. you can of course have a hunt around your home to see what you could substitute!
How to make a Toilet Paper Roll Dog Marionette!
Painting your cardboard tubes in the desired dog colour
1) Paint your loo rolls the desired colour. We went for black!
Shaping the paper dog’s head
2) Shape your dog’s head – cut 4 slits about 2/3s of the way down, then squeeze them together so that they overlap as in the picture shown. Add some glue and hold in place with an elastic band or piece of string – mind that you don’t glue the band on by accident!
Shapping the marionette’s body
3) Trim a little off the long roll to make the ears – cut ear shapes and glue onto the head. Add googly eyes.
Assembling the dog puppet’s feet
4) Add the feet and tail. We used some of our chestnuts left over from all our Autumn collecting activities.. perfect way to use some of them up. We managed to pierce our chestnuts with our scissors, but you may need a metal skewer. Make sure an adult does this. Make holes in the long roll – one for the tail (a twig) and 4 for the chestnut feet. Thread one piece of string through the first chestnut, through the body and then through the 2nd chestnut. If you can’t find chestnuts – how about some acorns? or maybe some shells or stones? As to the tail – we “just stuck” ours into the hole and add lots of glue to secure it a little.
5) Attach the head with one piece of string running through the head.
Making the dancing marionette holder
6) Make the “marionette” hand piece out of two twigs tied together (although in the configuration we have it in, one twig is plenty!).
Finishing the TP Roll Dog Marionette puppet
7) Assemble and play! Hooray!
I do hope you like our little fella! And that you have a go at making one yourself…
Pip Squeak (2yrs) ADORES our dog marionette and even took it to bed one nap time!
More amazning and easy Toilet Paper Roll Crafts for Kids here, including a section dedicated to more Toilet Paper Roll Marionettes!
