4 Fun Crafts That Use a Toilet Roll

• Loo roll, or yellow card rolled into a tube
• White card
• Black paper
• Black pipe cleaner
• Yellow paint and a paintbrush
• Glue or glue dots
• Googly eyes
• Marker pen

1. Paint the loo roll yellow and let it dry. To skip the painting, roll yellow card into a tube and tape it at the back.
2. Cut two wings from the white card.
3. Cut two black stripes from the black paper.
4. Cut the pipe cleaner into two shorter pieces.
5. Stick on the googly eyes and draw a smiley face near the top of the roll.
6. Wrap the black stripes around the roll and glue them down.
7. Glue the wings to the back of the roll.
8. Glue the pipe cleaner pieces inside the top of the roll so they stick out like antennae.

Using scissors builds hand-eye coordination: children learn to watch where they are cutting and use their eyes to guide the next move. Gluing the pieces in place practises the fine motor control they will need for handwriting, and mastering both is useful for sport, cooking and everyday life.

• Toilet roll
• Green paint and brush
• Googly eyes and two pom-poms
• Red, orange and yellow tissue paper
• Cardboard for a crown or horns
• Glue and scissors

1. Paint the roll green and let it dry.
2. Add googly eyes at one end and two pom-pom nostrils at the other.
3. Cut strips of tissue paper and glue them by the nostrils to make fire.
4. Add a cardboard crown or horns at the eyes end.

Cutting the tissue strips and placing small pieces practises scissor skills and gluing, both of which build fine motor control and hand-eye coordination, the same skills children need for handwriting. A finished dragon also invites the storytelling that builds language.

• Toilet roll
• Blue paint and brush
• White paper for clouds
• Tissue paper in rainbow colours
• Glue and scissors

1. Paint the roll blue and let it dry.
2. Cut out cloud shapes and stick them on the roll.
3. Cut long strips of tissue paper in different colours and glue them inside one end to make a rainbow tail.
4. Run around the garden so the wind rushes through the roll and the colours fly behind.

Cutting clouds and long strips is good scissor practice, and the reward is a toy to run with, so the craft ends in gross motor play outdoors.

• Toilet roll
• Brown paint and brush
• Googly eyes and a red pom-pom
• Brown paper
• Glue and scissors

1. Paint the roll brown and let it dry.
2. Add googly eyes and a red pom-pom nose.
3. Draw around your child's hands on brown paper, cut them out and glue them on as antlers.

Cutting around a handprint is a satisfying scissor challenge, and the reindeer makes a keepsake decoration with your child's hand size recorded in it.