We ADORE Toilet Paper Crafts for Kids. This week’s book & craft has been “brewing” for a while… I am not sure why haven’t done it sooner, maybe I thought Red Ted was still too young. Well, he is in terms of crafting, but he isn’t in terms of painting, sticking, helping and of course PLAYING! So, we embraced the craft – a great one for children 5yrs+ or with a helping adult!!! Red Ted loves the resulting Toilet Paper Roll Giraffe marionettes!!! These Giraffe Puppets where inspired by the wonderful Picture Book Giraffe’s Can’t Dance. More on that below!
Without a further a do…
Note: This post was first published in May 2010 (wow!!) and has been updated and reshared with you!
Joining in with National Reading Month challenge!
The Picture Book – Giraffe’s Can’t Dance
Giraffe’s Can’t Dance, by Giles Andreae. Early this week, I already reviewed “Giraffe’s Can’t Dance”. Here we have it again: I have to confess to picking this book up, because I like the “format”. Our version is a smallish board book. I also liked the rhythm and rhyme of the book and Red Ted liked the bright colours. Here we have the story of a Gerald the giraffe that is, well, a little clumsy on his feet. Each year the jungle holds a jungle dance and Gerald feels left out has he is so “rubbish”. Sadly he wanders off… however, a small cricket helps him discover his “inner self”. A lesson: we are all good at something, as long as we find the right way for us. Hurray! Happy Ending.
Today we are going to make Gerald as a fun Toilet Paper Roll Giraffe Marionette! The materials are very simple!
You can get copies of the book here:
(affiliate links)
Toilet Paper Roll Giraffe Marionette
Toilet Roll Giraffe Materials
- 2 loo rolls per Toilet Paper Roll Giraffe,
- 1-2 sheets of A4 in contrasting colours (red & yellow in our case),
- paints (red & yellow, I prefer acrylics as they don’t get so dry and crumble like some poster paints),
- brushes,
- scissors,
- glue and later
- chopsticks and string (not shown in photo, as only decided to add these later)
How to make a puppet with Toilet Paper Rolls
2) Paint two loo rolls yellow. Red Ted decided he “wanted” red, so I decided to make 2 giraffes with him. So we painted another 2 loo rolls red. I helped him, as he was getting a little tired!
3) We then dabbed on some spots in the contrasting colour with cotton wool. I think lots of paint gives it nice “texture” to your toilet paper roll Giraffe!
4) Let it dry.
The Toilet Paper Roll Giraffe Puppet’s Legs
Start on the legs.
5) I didn’t have yellow paper, so I quickly “made” some with cotton wool and watered down paint… Just means you have to wait for it to dry. I only did one side. Don’t think it matters if one side is white and the other yellow. If your children have a longer attention span, they can help with this too!
6) Cut the paper in to even strips. I made mine about 1cm wide and used a ruler to help me (marked one sheet, but cut four sheets in one go). The neater and more even you cut, the better!
7) The “tricky bit”: Take one yellow and one red strip. It is kind of like pleating the two pieces of paper. Glue down the first two bits and then alternately fold over. Once you get to the end of the paper, I glued on another strip. So each leg and neck is made of 2 yellow strips and 2 red strips of paper. Glue top down.
8) Make 5 for each giraffe (so we made 10 – got a little boring, I admit). Whilst I folded. Red Ted did some play gluing and play folding with extra strips of paper! I also made 2 smaller sets (about 1/2cm wide) in one colour for the horns and cut out some “ears”.
Assembling the Toilet Paper Roll Giraffe Marionette
9) Cut down one loo roll for head (about 2/3rds)
10) Glue legs and neck on. I used cloth pegs to keep them in place whilst drying.
11) Glue on horns, ears and draw eyes/ stick on googly eyes
I found at this point that the giraffes were finished, but no so easy to play with, as the neck kept flopping about. So I decided to make marionettes out of them – I used some take away chopsticks (but lollipop sticks will do) and garden string!
12) FINISHED!
We then revisited the story at bedtime. Red Ted was delighted! And the Gerald and Geraldine have indeed been doing LOTS of dancing!
You can watch us play with them over on YouTube (warning: very ancient not very good video!! hahaha).
What have you made using Toilet Paper Rolls? Let me know in the comments below!
Fancy more easy TP Roll Crafts for Kids? Check these out!!
What others are reading
Toilet Paper Roll Dog Marionette from Hairy Maclary
story + art = Great Start – The Jolly Postman & Simple Postcards
Red Ted gets stuck in!
Kids Crafts: Stick Man
Get Crafty – June 2010 – Inspired by Nature
Hooray for Fish – Footprint Fish for Kids
Craft Carnival – all things crafty!
How to… make Felt "Strawberries & Cream" & Gingerbread Men!
TheMadHouse says
May 26, 2010 at 7:32 amThis is a really cool idea. I love it
Red Ted Art says
May 26, 2010 at 8:06 amThank you 😉 we certainly had fun with them…. wonder how long they will “Live” – but then we can make somem more..
mummakesafilm says
May 26, 2010 at 9:43 amLooking forward to when my little one is old enough to do things like this – looks fun!
Red Ted Art says
May 26, 2010 at 9:48 am😉 I will be making them again when Red Ted is 5+. but dont underestimate th 2yrs olds now.. he LOVED the painting and watching me fold, whilst he glued… he feels really proud of “his” giraffes!!! Go on.. do it “earlier” than you think you can!!!!
Vicci says
May 29, 2010 at 6:28 pmLové to Know what he glued. Bet hé had fun though, can you do goats next?
Red Ted Art says
May 29, 2010 at 6:30 pmSend me a good book on goats (can be french too!!!) and we can give it a go 😉 xx
Michelle says
May 27, 2010 at 12:53 pmThis is so cool!!! I can’t wait to see if my library has this book and make this project with Emily. I will totally be making my own too!!
Thank you for sharing and linking up to stART 🙂
Amy @ Hope Is the Word says
May 27, 2010 at 2:50 pmThis is adorable! I love it! Kudos to you for attempting a rather complicated activity with such a little one, too. 🙂
That book looks really cute, too. I haven’t run across it at any of our libraries.
Thanks for linking up to Read Aloud Thursday!
Natalie says
May 27, 2010 at 4:45 pmThose giraffes are awesome. We also enjoyed this book a lot.
Little Wonders' Days says
May 27, 2010 at 4:57 pmWe love that book. I love how you did the craft. They turned out so cute!
April says
May 27, 2010 at 7:19 pmOoooh, I love the giraffes that you made. What a perfect storytelling prop. I remember learning how to make those “pleats” in step #7 when I was a little girl. I used to use them to make my own pop-out cards.
JDaniel4's Mom says
May 27, 2010 at 7:38 pmThese are the best. I loved seeing them in action.
Charlene says
May 27, 2010 at 8:18 pmWow what a great idea….and it came out so nicely. Love it! Dropping by via stART!
Christianne @ Little Page Turners says
May 27, 2010 at 9:39 pmLOVE this! Way too cute. It is nice when they’re a little older – you have a whole new world of crafting opened up to you. But you’re right – they joy of playing with the craft is fun at any age. 🙂
Janelle says
May 27, 2010 at 10:49 pmLove those folded legs. They look like a lot of fun to play with.
Anne@LittleSproutBooks says
May 28, 2010 at 9:39 pmadorable! I’m going to tuck this away until my guy is a little older – but looks like tons of fun!
Parenting in Blue Jeans - Jennifer Bruining says
June 2, 2010 at 12:20 pmSo cute! You’ve got mad craft skills!
Visiting from WFMW
Red Ted Art says
June 2, 2010 at 12:33 pm🙂
meninheira says
June 4, 2010 at 12:49 pmOh please, is so, so cute!! thanks a lot for joining to my blog party! (now the theme is “laundry”)
Hugs from Spain
meni ^-^
Jenn says
June 7, 2010 at 11:52 amAwww! So cute and sounds like a great bookl I’ll have to check it out. Thanks for linking up!
Diehl Art Gallery says
June 23, 2010 at 4:28 pmSuch a great art project, thanks for sharing!
gnee says
June 30, 2010 at 8:39 amLove the book and your fabulous giraffes…of course they can dance!
Steff says
June 30, 2010 at 9:45 amGenius- and so cute!
Red Ted Art says
June 30, 2010 at 1:19 pmthank you! We had fun!
Nikki says
June 30, 2010 at 12:49 pmThat is soooooo sweet! My son will love that! Thanks for linking up to gettin ‘crafty on hump day 🙂
Red Ted Art says
June 30, 2010 at 1:19 pmOOh, would be fabulous if you made one with your son! Go on, you know you want to!! Thanks for hosting!
Its Sew Stinkin Cute says
July 1, 2010 at 2:31 pmWow, thats incredible! I love it, but might feel the same way about Laci being too young, plus her attention span is super short. I will have to keep this in mind. As always, thank you for linking (BTW- I took care of the links on Wednesday’s post for you). ~Julie
Laura Ingalls Gunn says
July 3, 2010 at 4:20 pmOh I adore this project. It is going in my style file for sure!
Red Ted Art says
July 3, 2010 at 6:07 pmOooh, fabulous! Do hope you get to make some some day!!! Red Ted loves playing with his…
Melissa Howard says
July 4, 2010 at 3:47 amThat is way, way beyond cute!!
threeundertwo says
July 4, 2010 at 12:01 pmVery cute! Thanks for linking up to Finished for Friday!
All Thingz Related says
July 6, 2010 at 6:45 pmWhat a fun idea! Thanks for sharing @ Anything Related!
Audra says
July 7, 2010 at 3:02 pmOnce again. Such a cute idea!
Gale says
August 10, 2010 at 5:42 amThanks for posting this! We did this craft and my kids just loved it. You can see pictures here:
http://scribbleprints.blogspot.com/2010/08/what-my-kids-have-been-up-to-this-week.html
Metajugglamum says
October 20, 2010 at 8:35 amU-oh, now I DO need to place an Amazon order. Have poked my nose over this book for ages but don’t have it yet. Worth buying it just so we can make these .. just SO fab!! L will laugh his socks off. Can’t wait to play!
MJM.
Samantha Banister says
December 9, 2010 at 3:20 pmThis is an AMAZING idea!!! I can’t wait to try this with my child!
tiddlyompompom says
December 22, 2010 at 10:20 amI love these. I have a stash of loo rolls, so fully expect to be making giraffes in the new year 🙂
Red Ted Art says
December 22, 2010 at 10:55 amOh Hooray!!! Have fun making and PLAYING with these!! 🙂
@jencull (Jen) says
December 26, 2010 at 10:26 pmoh wow, they look GREAT 🙂
Thanks for joining in Blog Gems. Jen
B Fryman says
May 13, 2011 at 12:18 pmThose are really cute!!
Red Ted Art says
May 13, 2011 at 2:20 pmAaaah thank you! We had real fun making (and playing) with these.. am surprised we still have them a year later more or less in one piece!
Melissa says
May 14, 2011 at 11:02 amWe love this book and we read it regularly. Will definitely have to make these! Thank you so much for sharing such a great craft project.
Red Ted Art says
May 14, 2011 at 11:03 amAaaah thank you and pleased you like the book (I think it is lovely)… only think I would do differently on the giraffes is make the neck fatter and shorter… else we love them 😉
Heather says
May 15, 2011 at 2:30 amThese are so cute! And I love that they’re made with tp tubes – my kids love to hoard the tubes for crafts. We’ll have to try this.
Red Ted Art says
May 15, 2011 at 6:50 amThank you! I am going to try a new animal soon!
Isil says
May 16, 2011 at 12:24 pmThis is one of our favorite books. Defne will be delighted with these marionettes.
Red Ted Art says
May 16, 2011 at 1:18 pmIt really is a lovely book! 🙂
Jennifer says
May 16, 2011 at 3:18 pmCute! my daughter would love making those!
Red Ted Art says
May 16, 2011 at 3:56 pmDo have a go! And would love to see any results!!!
SJ @ Homemaker On A Dime says
May 16, 2011 at 5:42 pmLinking this up with us plus the organza flower made the Creative Bloggers’ Party & Hop better and more special. Thank you! And I hope you don’t mind if I ask you again to join us this Sunday 🙂
Red Ted Art says
May 16, 2011 at 6:39 pmI will be there – have added you to my “linky calendar” 😉
creativejewishmom/sara says
May 17, 2011 at 5:54 amthese giraffes are wonderful! thanks so much for sharing on Craft Schooling Sunday, great to have you every week.
Mama Syder says
May 19, 2011 at 5:18 pmThey are fabulous! The way you made the legs & neck is what we used to do with our chewing gum wrappers as teenagers. It would be a competition to see who could make the longest…you triggered a great memory for me x
Red Ted Art says
May 20, 2011 at 9:43 amMama Syder – aaah how lovely! Pleased it brought back memories!! Funny what you get up to as kids!
@mummiafelice says
May 19, 2011 at 7:10 pmwow! Your creations never fail to astound me…. FANTASTIC! Thanks for linking up!
Michelle Willow says
May 20, 2011 at 8:05 amSaw these year ago and still think they are awesome! 🙂
Red Ted Art says
May 20, 2011 at 9:01 amYes, I am highlighting an “old” post every week!! Thank you!
Rochelle Prince says
March 26, 2012 at 3:18 pmyes if you like french cook le repas a domicile fan page
Artsy Craftsy Mom says
March 6, 2013 at 10:17 amWow! this is such a cool idea. 🙂
Red Ted Art says
March 6, 2013 at 11:00 amThank you 🙂
C bruton says
February 8, 2014 at 7:54 amLove love love this!
I have a 4 yr old son and 2 1/2 yr old daughter to try it with.
One thing has anyone tried putting beads in the feet for added weight and ‘clipclop’ sounds?
I will try and let everyone know. Xx
Pinkoddy says
June 10, 2014 at 7:32 pmYou have such the best ideas – and these look like they can be a lot of fun too.
Bea says
March 15, 2017 at 12:14 pmAwwwhhh… I love this giraffe. What a great storytelling combination. Adorable!
Hugs Bea
Red Ted Art says
March 16, 2017 at 8:45 amThank you!!