10 Toilet Paper Roll Crafts Ideas for Kids to Make Today

The ten projects run from a 10-minute spiral snake to a dinosaur that takes a slow afternoon, and the deciding factor is who holds the scissors.

Cardboard is stiffer than it looks, so snake, dinosaur, and the other cut-heavy crafts need an adult for younger kids. Bird feeder and cactus suit preschoolers.

1. Bird Feeder

Peanut butter or vegetable shortening is the glue, and shortening is the better pick if anyone near the feeder has a nut allergy.

Poke a hole in each end of the tube, tie string through both so it hangs level from a branch, then spread the spread along the whole roll and roll it in birdseed until it’s coated.

A bamboo skewer pushed through the bottom gives birds a perch.

Kids who like birds get a front-row seat to the neighborhood’s regulars, and that watching is where the nature learning happens: who shows up, what they eat, how fast the seed disappears.

It’s the most common craft on any tp roll crafts list, and it earns the spot. It’s also the messiest of the bunch, so do the spreading and rolling outside or over a tray.

2. Fire-Breathing Dragon

Thin strips of red, yellow, and orange tissue paper are what make the fire work.

Glue them just inside the tube, near the nostrils, and when a kid blows into the head, the strips flutter out like flames. Thick strips stay limp, so cut them narrow.

Start by painting the roll, or wrap it in construction paper and glue it down.

Small pom-poms make the nostrils, big pom-poms make the eyes, and googly eyes go on top of those. Let the dragon dry completely before anyone blows into it, or the strips stick to the wet glue and never move.

I’d pick this over most tp roll crafts for kids who love knights and castles. The making takes minutes, and then the dragon becomes a character they can act out.

3. Pencil Holder

Cut a few rolls to different heights, then glue them to a sturdy base like a piece of wood.

Hot glue holds well here, and a mix of toilet paper rolls and paper towel tubes gives you tall slots for pens and short ones for pencils or scissors.

Kids can cover each tube with washi tape, scrapbook paper, or paint, so no two holders look alike.

Stuck together on a base, the rolls become a desk organizer that stays put when someone pulls out a marker. I’d pick wood over cardboard for the base, since a pile of full tubes tips easily on a flimsy one.

One more use is practical: wrap a curling iron cord around your hand, slide it off, and tuck the coil into a roll. Covered in contact paper or colored duct tape, it keeps any electrical cord from tangling.

4. Spiral Snake

Paint the roll first. A flat cardboard tube takes paint far more easily than a floppy spiral, and you can hold the whole thing without it bending.

Let it dry completely, then cut. Painting after cutting works too, but the paint seeps into every curl and the strip tends to sag while it dries.

Draw the spiral with a pencil before you snip, then cut along the line in one long, steady strip. Pulling the finished coil gently apart is what makes the snake stretch, and kids like wrapping it around an arm.

The cutting is the hard part. Cardboard fights safety scissors, so I’d have an adult cut for younger kids.

Older ones can manage alone. Add dots or stripes, then glue on googly eyes and a tongue.

5. Unicorn

Paint the roll white or a pastel, or wrap it in construction paper if you’d rather skip drying time.

Paint wins for a smoother finish, but paper is the better pick for little kids who can’t wait. Glue on googly eyes and draw the rest of the face with a marker.

Yarn does the most work here. Cut pieces in fun colors, then put glue inside the tube on the face side and tuck the ends in so the rest hangs out like bangs.

Glue the remaining yarn to the back for the tail. Pre-cutting all the strands saves a lot of sticky fingers.

Cut the horn and ears from construction paper and glue them on last. A contrasting color for the horn makes the unicorn read from across the room.

6. Mini TP Town

Slits are what make this build work. Cut a pair of slits into the rim of an empty roll and one building can slot onto another, so a town can grow up as well as out.

Kids who want a skyscraper stack it, and kids who want a sprawling neighborhood spread the rolls across the floor.

Markers, ribbon and scrap paper cover the details: doors, windows, roofs, awnings.

Let the kids decide what each building is, because that choice is where the play starts. A roll becomes a bakery, a school or a house, and a pile of saved rolls finally gets used.

LEGO minifigs make good townspeople, if you have a few around.

7. Cactus

A cactus is the easiest roll to start a toddler or preschooler on, because nothing about it has to be exact.

Green paint goes on a bare cardboard tube, and a lumpy coat still looks like a cactus. Let the paint dry fully before adding the arms, since wet cardboard softens and the paper will slide right off.

Cut two arm shapes from green construction paper, a little like curled sausages, and glue each one to the side of the roll with a folded tab at the end.

Uneven arms look more like the real thing. For the pot, set the roll in a small paper cup or a lump of clay, or glue it to a cardboard circle.

Dots of white paint or marker make good spines, and a tiny pink paper flower on top gives it a personality.

8. Halloween Mummy

Gauze is what makes this one work: kids get to wrap, tuck and pull, and the loose, uneven layers look more like a mummy than anything neat would.

Paint the roll black first, glue on googly eyes, then wind the gauze around it, leaving a gap so the eyes peek through. Black underneath hides the cardboard wherever the wrapping thins out.

I’d paint before wrapping and let the roll dry fully, because damp paint will stain the gauze gray. Craft paint such as Apple Barrel is inexpensive, water-based and non-toxic, so cleanup is easy with small hands.

Mummies are a natural Halloween decoration, and rolls also turn into Christmas decorations, so save a few tubes for December.

9. Toilet Roll Dinosaurs

Of the ten projects here, the dinosaurs ask the most of you.

A roll, some paint and careful scissor work are all the materials involve, but the cutting is where the time goes: spikes, legs and tails all have to be snipped out of cardboard, which is stiffer than it looks.

Plan on an adult handling the scissors for the shaping cuts, and let kids take over the painting and decorating.

Paint the roll first and let it dry fully before you cut, so the cardboard doesn’t buckle under wet paint.

I’d skip this one for a quick ten-minute project and save it for a slow afternoon, because it rewards patience with a figure kids actually play with.

10. Confetti Poppers

A tied balloon stretched over one end of a toilet paper roll turns the tube into a confetti popper.

Tie the balloon first, snip off the round top, and pull the open end over the roll. Tape it around the rim so it can’t slide off when you pull.

Pour confetti into the open end, then pinch the knot, pull it back gently, and let go. The farther you pull the knot, the harder it pops, so start small with younger kids and work up.

These are made for parties and holidays. They work as party favors at a birthday, and they suit a Fourth of July afternoon, since you can fill them with red, white, and blue confetti.

I’d make a batch ahead of time and let each guest decorate one. Expect confetti on the floor afterward, so keep a broom handy.

Materials You Need

Most tp roll crafts run on the same short supply list, and you likely own half of it already:

• Toilet paper rolls: Start saving them now. Ten crafts eat through a pile quickly.
• Paper towel tubes: Longer projects, like an alligator that needs real length, call for one. Toilet paper rolls still work for the curved legs.
• Paint: Color the tube directly. Construction paper glued around it is the cleaner choice for younger kids, since there is no drying time.
• Glue: It holds pom-poms, paper strips and eyes alike. Spread it thin, and let it dry before anyone starts handling the piece.
• Scissors: Older kids can handle the cutting. Draw guide lines on the tube for younger ones.
• Googly eyes: Skip the paint and stick them on, because they give a face instantly.
• Construction paper: Use it for wrapping, teeth, ridges and anything that needs to stand up.

Matching Crafts to Age

The bird feeder and the cactus are the two I’d hand to the youngest kids. Spreading nut butter or shortening on a tube and rolling it in birdseed is a messy, hands-on job that a preschooler can do mostly alone.

It also teaches something: once the feeder hangs from a branch, kids start watching which birds show up and when.

Keep the snake and the dinosaurs for ages when a child can work scissors with care, and stay nearby. They involve more cutting and shaping than the simple tube projects.

Character crafts like the unicorn and the mummy do a different job.

Once the roll has a face, it becomes a puppet, and kids start inventing voices and stories for it. Tweens can take on any of the ten.

Are Toilet Paper Rolls Sanitary?

Yes, I’d call them sanitary enough for crafts. The cardboard center, called the core, spends nearly its whole life wrapped in toilet tissue, so the bare tube only meets your hands once the paper is gone.

If that still bothers you, sterilizing takes little effort. Spray the rolls with a bleach and water mixture and let them dry completely, or bake them at your oven’s lowest setting.

Stay near the oven while they bake, because cardboard can catch fire and you want to be there if anything starts to scorch.

I’d pick the spray for a big batch, since it keeps the oven free and there’s no fire risk. Baking suits a few rolls and avoids any bleach smell on the cardboard.

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