Seven toys you can make out of a cardboard roll

Nothing should be thrown away, and especially cardboard rolls since you can do wonders with them, and children will have a great time by participating. Octopuses, butterflies, necklaces, watches, owls, tunnels .... these are just some of the toys that can be made ​​out of a plain cardboard roll.

1. A wrist watch

Cut the roll in half, and if it is too narrow to be put on a child's hand, you can cut and slit the back as shown in the picture below. Draw the dial and the hands and that's it! It's a great idea when you want to teach children on telling time, and if you need more ideas for telling time, see here.

2. A Toy for developing fine motor skills

For this you will need a roll made out of a softer cardboard. Use puncher to make a number of holes in a roll (it doesn't matter if you have to bend it, you can easily restore it later to its original shape). Give your child a piece of wool or a string (IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not use a too long strap, especially if the toy will be used by children younger than three years, due to a choking hazard!)

Trust me, this is a kind of toy which can even occupy toddlers for a while. And it is also great as a pre-sewing activity, as suggested by this great blogger. 

3. A butterfly

To make the butterfly's wings, cut a piece of cardboard in the shape of the letter "x" as shown in the picture below and decorate it (the both sides) as you wish (children will especially love this part):

Paste the wings on a cardboard roll and draw the butterfly's "face". You can also add two tentacles. Ours had them, but they were soon gone, before mom managed to take photos.

4. Necklaces

I've already mentioned these as one of the activities for Valentine's Day, but there's no reason why it should not be done at any time of the year. Cut the roll into smaller rings, have children to decorate them and bead them on a nice ribbon. Help them to tie the string to get the necklace and do not forget to be cautious with small children, because of the suffocation risk.

5. Owls

Globally popular owls have found a place in our home as well. To make them yourself, just bend the top of rolls at the two opposite sides to get the ears (of course I forgot to take pictures while we were doing it, so look here for more detailed instructions) and draw their eyes, beak and wings. You can also use some collage paper for decorations.

6. A tunnel

These were also mentioned before, as a way of entertaining kids in the kitchen, but of course it can be made in any other room in the house. We've done it in the kitchen because our walls there are lined with thinn cork and it is easy to stick something like this, but it can be done on a window, on the wall, on the door or on a closet.

So we pasted the rolls by using glue dots and added some sticking tape to make it more resistant, and then threw the ball down the tunnel. There was a lot of screaming and laughing, the girls were really thrilled with this game.

 7. An octopus

Cut the bottom of the cardboard roll into 8 strips, fold them up and draw octopus's face with some markers. All set!

With so many sweet animals, it was not hard to play a zoo game :)



Need more ideas what to do with the cardboard rolls? Look here.

P.S. Check these great linky parties: