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!)

Paper Roll Animals

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.

Paper Roll Animals

Paper Roll Animals

Here’s another view of their legs (but really you can cut them however you want!)

Paper Roll Animals

Elephant:

After painting the elephant’s ears, I folded them to create a tab for the glue.

Paper Roll Animals

Monkey:

This one is my favorite!

Paper Roll Animals

The tail is a brown pipe cleaner.

Paper Roll Animals

Alligator:

These are the pieces I cut for the alligator. You’ll definitely need a paper towel roll for this one.

Paper Roll Animals

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!

Paper Roll Animals

I also glued spikes on the back.

Paper Roll Animals

Then it was time to play!

Paper Roll Animals

Feeding the monkey some grass.

Paper Roll Animals

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

Craft Closet Boredom Busters for Kids!

Paper Roll Animals to Make

12 Comments

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  1. 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!

    Reply
  2. 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!

    Reply
  3. Bob The Train Jul 9, 2016

    grt ideas very cute...

    Reply
  4. Starr Jul 31, 2016

    What type of paint did you use?

    Reply
    1. 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.

      Reply
  5. Limor Jan 11, 2017

    I liked it a lot. It is a wonderful idea for my first gradesThank you

    Reply
  6. Sandra Estrada Feb 18, 2017

    I would like to know if you have a pattern of the elements ears and nose?

    Reply
  7. nursery rhymes videos Sep 26, 2017

    Superb and fun for kids.

    Reply
  8. Heather Aug 9, 2018

    Awesome article!! Thanks for sharing these great tips :)

    Reply
  9. Frezy Caranzo Apr 17, 2020

    My kids they're excited to do this too... Thank you for this idea,my kids love it!

    Reply
  10. Chloe Sok May 19, 2020

    There so cute.
    i made one and it was cute

    Reply
  11. Chloe Sok May 19, 2020

    These ideas are perfect for my big brother.

    Reply
  12. Ann Jun 28, 2020

    How about a shark?

    Reply

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