Fun In The Making » reuse toilet paper or paper towel rolls

Cone Tree Craft With A Surprise

jane — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 01:53:36 +0000

I wanted something to decorate the kids table for Christmas dinner this year and this is what I came up with. It is a festive forest of wrapping paper trees with a surprise inside. You can make them too. Hide the treat/ gift inside or place it in the trunk of the tree. If it is inside, kids will have the fun of “unwrapping” the gift. If you place the gift in the trunk, kids can take the tree home as a party favor. You decide.

This is also a great project to do on Christmas day! Use different pieces of wrapping paper after opening your Christmas presents. Let the kids make a lot and decorate the house with these festive trees.

You will need: scrape pieces of wrapping paper or brown packing paper, salvaged paper cups, toilet roll tubes, and some glue or paste. A treat or small toy is optional. If you use new paper cups you are missing the point of this project. I don’t like disposable paper cups but sometimes it is necessary when out. I save those cups for future craft projects like this.

Different cups will make different sized cones. Experiment to see what size paper is needed for the size cup you are using.

They look stylish without a stem too.

Creative Rockets For Play or Display Made From Recycled Junk

jane — Thu, 01 May 2008 00:45:13 +0000

I’m not going to give you step by step instructions, rather, I hope to spark your imagination. I will, however, supply a few tips.

Start collecting supplies. Over the next week (more or less) keep an eye out for rocket parts. Ask friends to check their recycle bin for you.

Note: Keep an “arts and crafts junk box” for kids’ projects. Inside the box add bits and bobs of “trash” such as plastic bottles that have been cleaned out, Styrofoam trays, bottle tops, thread spools, used but clean popsicle sticks, toilet paper rolls…

This rocket was made from all recycled parts

Adjusting the circumference of your cylinder is easy.

The above rocket needed the toilet paper roll to fit snugly in the top of a paper towel tube.

The nose of a rocket can be made this way.

Design your own spacecraft. I call this The Penguin for obvious reasons.

Make a space themed mobile . Don’t forget to add a few asteroids or some silly aliens.

TV Pixilator Light Show

jane — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 01:45:59 +0000

This is a fun yet easy thing to make and try out with the kids.
How-2: Collect about 100 toilet paper roll tubes (the number depends on the size of your TV). You might want to ask your friends to help, it really shouldn’t take too long. You will also need a stapler and a cover. The cover can be made of a large piece of velum or any semi transparent paper or plastic (even wax paper or thin white fabric will work). I used a piece of plastic. Staple the tubes together; stapling seems to be the fastest and most secure method of connecting the tubes. Then glue or otherwise attach the cover and it’s ready. The TV Pixilator has the best light show if a bright children’s cartoon or something similar is playing.

Instead of seeing the image on the tv, you will only see spots of colored light.

Does anyone know the science behind this?

The colors going through a tube seem to mix and become one color.