Self-isolation stuff to do with kids: toilet-roll holder crafts

Anyone can make stuff out of the insides of toilet rolls.  And those people who bought in bulk in the run-up to the lockdown (fearing no doubt that they would be suffering from dreadfully upset digestive systems due to the stress of self-isolation) will now have loads of cardboard tubes to play with.

SUGGESTION ONE:

Stair Tunnel

Stick a lot of cardboard tubes together to form a single tube long enough to stretch down your stairs. Make one of these per child. Lay them on the stairs (someone will have to be at the top to hold them), then roll toy cars down inside the tubes, racing to see whose car gets down first.  A child on his/her own could test different types of cars against each other.

Warning: the cars can shoot out of the end very quickly and might chip paintwork or even hit someone, so have some cushions at the bottom to catch them.


SUGGESTION TWO:

Toilet Tube Car

Here are the things you need:



Note that the toilet roll tube has had an oval hole cut out of its side.

I forgot to add that you will also need two circles of coloured paper, the same size as the wheels, for the front and back of the car.  You will also needs paints or crayons of some sort to colour in the wheels and maybe decorate the car.  Covering the toilet roll holder with coloured paper makes it quicker to 'colour' it, but your child might prefer to paint it or colour it in.

First, cover the toilet roll tube with coloured paper, starting at the side with the hole. Snip the paper that covers the hole so you can push the flaps inside the tube - this is where the driver will sit.



Second, glue the long strip of coloured paper so it covers the place where the other paper meets (tuck the end into hold).  This strip of paper will bend over the end of the roll, along the bottom, up the other side and should be long enough for you to tuck the end into the other side of the hole.  When you reach the ends of the roll (front and back of the car), slip in the circles of coloured paper to form the back and front of the car.




Third, paint or colour the wheels in any design you fancy.



Fourth, attach two wheels on one side of the car with glue. Leave to allow the glue to set completely before turning the car over and gluing the remaining two wheels on the other side.



Finally, when everything is dry, pop a little driver into the hole.


  

Obviously, there are further decorative embellishments you might add - headlamps drawn on or made with shiny star stickers or beads, doors and handles drawn on the sides of the car, an exhaust pipe made out of a piece of a straw, etc.  I have given you the basic idea, but it can be taken wherever your child wants to take it.  Handy people might want to make proper turning wheels on an axel made out of a wooden skewer or some such item, and a roof to cover the driver made out of a clear plastic lid from some sort of container, or a steering wheel made out a large button, or...well, you get the picture!

There are a multitude of other things you can make with toilet roll innards: people, trees, houses, etc.

                    

[NOTE: You can't make a working hard drive out of cardboard tubes!]