Get crafty with paper towel/toilet paper rolls and make some adorable animals! Just add scissors, paint, googly eyes, and hot glue. This is the perfect boredom buster for a rainy day! (Or a hot one – where we live, summer is not an outside season!)
Three of the boys and I worked on this project together. I had to do all the cutting and assembling for the younger boys, but they had a great time painting! Jonathan (age 3) is not a super fine motor kind of guy, so I’m glad that he enjoys painting, and I think it’s really good for him.
We have been saving paper towel rolls for a long time, so we put them to good use with this project.
Here are the animals we made!
Lion Family:
I cut these pieces out of cardboard. The mane is a piece of cereal box cardboard. I also cut the faces for the lion cub and the mother lion out of a cereal box.
Here’s another view of their legs (but really you can cut them however you want!)
Elephant:
After painting the elephant’s ears, I folded them to create a tab for the glue.
Monkey:
This one is my favorite!
The tail is a brown pipe cleaner.
Alligator:
These are the pieces I cut for the alligator. You’ll definitely need a paper towel roll for this one.
Gresham painted the body and legs green while I painted the teeth white.
I ended up cutting the legs down a little shorter when I assembled the alligator. It was really easy to glue in the teeth, and they made the alligator look so much better!
I also glued spikes on the back.
Then it was time to play!
Feeding the monkey some grass.
It would be fun to create a bunch of animals and then use them as props for a story. Or make a simple puppet stage for them.
This post is the second installment in our Craft Closet Boredom Busters series! Be sure to stop by the rest of today’s posts!
Pretend Cardboard “Tablet” from Lalymom (This is truly a brilliant idea!)
Giant Color Wheel Collage from The Educator’s Spin on It
Craft Stick Pet Puppets from Toddler Approved
Simple Sewing Project for Kids from JDaniel4’s Mom
Balancing on Boxes for Toddlers from I Can Teach My Child
12 Comments
RaisingCreativeChildren Jun 24, 2015
We would totally use these as part of creating our very own family musical! Easy, fun, and so many possibilities. Thanks for the idea!
Stacey Janelle Nov 28, 2015
These are just adorable! Such a great idea, and how I love activities that can keep my son (and me) busy while using things we already have around the house! Thanks for the post; I'm glad pinterest showed it to me:) I'll have to check back here often, since frugal fun is just the kind of thing I need with my 3-year-old boy!
Bob The Train Jul 9, 2016
grt ideas very cute...
Starr Jul 31, 2016
What type of paint did you use?
Sarah Aug 1, 2016
We used acrylic. I think tempera would be fine too and washes out of clothing better! It just looks more chalky rather than shiny.
Limor Jan 11, 2017
I liked it a lot. It is a wonderful idea for my first gradesThank you
Sandra Estrada Feb 18, 2017
I would like to know if you have a pattern of the elements ears and nose?
nursery rhymes videos Sep 26, 2017
Superb and fun for kids.
Heather Aug 9, 2018
Awesome article!! Thanks for sharing these great tips :)
Frezy Caranzo Apr 17, 2020
My kids they're excited to do this too... Thank you for this idea,my kids love it!
Chloe Sok May 19, 2020
There so cute.
i made one and it was cute
Chloe Sok May 19, 2020
These ideas are perfect for my big brother.
Ann Jun 28, 2020
How about a shark?
Post a Comment