Make & Do

Toilet Roll Wreath

 

The following design is very simple, but effective. It can be adapted for any occasion. We have made these wreaths for Easter, Yule, Valentines and Halloween. The materials are easy to find around the house, and the ones that aren't are cheap enough to buy.

 

A printable PDF of the instructions can be viewed here.

Materials Needed

Wire Coathanger	Toilet Roll Inners	Double Sided Tape & Crepe Paper Roll, or paint

Coloured card, paper, pens and scissors	Decorations & Ribbon

What To Do

1. Bend the coat hanger into a circle shape. If you want, wrap crepe paper around the hanger to cover it and change the colour.
   
2. Arrange your toilet roll inners around your loop so you know how many you need. If you want to make a pattern like the one shown you will need to cut some toilet rolls in half.
   
3. If you want to paint the toilet rolls do so now and when they are dry jump to step 6. If not, put a strip of double sided sticky tape along the length of each toilet roll.
   
4. Wrap the crepe paper around the toilet roll (it will need to be at a slight angle), all the way so it overlaps the ends of the roll.
   
5. Tuck in the loose ends of the crepe paper. Use a bit of tape to hold the ends in the tube.
   
6. Continue doing the same to all of the toilet rolls until they are all coloured.
   
7. Cut half way across the toilet roll. It will probably squash a bit but don't worry about that!
   
8. Squeeze your toilet roll back to a tube shape and then push it onto the wire coat hanger.
   
9. Continue to do the same to all the toilet rolls until they are all arranged around the wire coat hanger.
   
10. Add strips of card to the back of all the cardboard tubes. This prevents the tubes from rotating when you add the decorations.
    
11. Turn over the wreath. This is the front and the side you will be adding the decorations to.
    
12. Cut out your shapes. We used eggs as we were making an Easter decoration. Decorate them with pens and/or stickers.
    
13. Start adding decorations to the wreath. You can add cardboard shapes, flowers, stickers, anything!
    
14. Keep going until all of the wreath is covered with decorations.
    
15. Make a shape with your seasonal greeting written on it and punch a hole in the top. Thread a length of ribbon through the hole and knot it.
    
16. Put the greeting in the centre of the wreath and tie the ribbon around the coat hanger hook.
    
17. Add a ribbon bow as a finishing touch and hang up your decorative wreath.
    

Toilet Roll Wubbzy

 

I was looking around on the internet trying to find crafts for young children that feature characters from Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!, other than the print and play type crafts on Nick Jr I couldn't find anything else. This just won't do, so here is a simple craft to help redress the balance!

I made this with my 2.5 year old. I did the cutting in advance, she peeled the backing off the double sided tape, I did the sticking and she filled Wubbzy with pom-poms to give him Disco Hair!

Toilet Roll Wubbzy

What You Need

• A cardboard inner from a toilet roll.
• Yellow craft paper
• Yellow, Black and White craft foam sheets
• Yellow Pipe Cleaner
• Double Sided and regular sticky tape
• Pointed Scissors (keep these away from your little one - please)

What To Do

1. Cut an inch off the top of the toilet roll and cut the inch wide piece across to make a strip rather than a ring of cardboard.
2. Place the toilet roll on the yellow craft foam and draw around the outside. Remove the toilet roll and draw on two half oval shapes (these are Wubzzys feet)
3. From the remaining yellow craft foam cut two arms and two ears - use the picture below as a guide to the shapes.
4. From the black foam cut two small ovals for the eyes and a larger oval for the nose.
5. From the white foam cut a crescent shape the same length as the oval nose.
6. Lay the toilet roll on the yellow paper and roll it up. Mark where you need to cut the paper so that it is the same length and height as the toilet roll. Cut the paper to the right size.

You should now have a selection of shapes that look like these -

Now the preparation is done the sticking can start taking place!

1. First place the strip of cardboard inside the toilet roll and tape it in place - make sure that part of the cardboard is level with bottom of the tube as this is where we attach Wubbzy's feet
2. Place some double sided tape on the yellow paper and roll it onto the toilet roll inner
3. Put double sided tape on the cardboard at the bottom of the tube and attached Wubbzy's feet
4. Use double sided tape to attach the eyes, ears and mouth
5. Put a strip of double sided tape inside the top of the tube and attach the ears
6. Now carefully, use the scissors to make a small slit in each side of the tube level with Wubbzy's mouth and a hole in the back about an inch from the bottom on the tube
7. Push the arms and pipe cleaner tail through the slots & hole. You can secure them more by adding a bit of tape to the inside of the tube to hold them in place
8. Now bend that tail !!

You should now have a completed Wubbzy! Perfect for filling with PomPoms and turning into big hair Wubbzy.

My rather creative 10 year old got inspired by this and decided to make Widget & Walden as well.

The whole group together

They were certainly appreciated anyhow and did not leave Little Ones side whilst she was engrossed in the mornings episode.