Toilet Paper Roll Christmas Craft for Kids

 This Christmas garland toilet paper roll Christmas craft can be used as a Christmas tree decoration or to hang in another part of your home. I mean, how else would you prepare for Christmas 2020, right? It’s a fun craft that kids can make with a little adult help. 

This year has forced us to seek joy in the little things and find fun in unlikely places. Making toilet paper roll Christmas crafts with your kids can help you find a little of both along with a nod (or a middle finger) to the year that keeps throwing things at us.

The shape, size, length, and material of Christmas garlands vary. The original garlands from pagan tradition were made from leaves and flowers. This year we’re going to make an offering to the pandemic gods in hopes of not running out of toilet paper again *giggle*

Toilet Paper Roll Christmas Garland

• 3 empty toilet paper rolls
• colored cellophane  – You can purchase cellophane squares or for a cheaper option use cellophane from a roll that you might already have for making gift baskets. If you receive a Christmas gift or goodies in a cellophane bag you can upcycle those for cellophane for this project too!
• white acrylic paint
• a paintbrush
• hot glue
• a pair of scissors
• white glue
• yarn
• a cereal box

Instructions:

If your toilet paper rolls are brown, paint each with white paint first and allow it to dry. Alternatively, if you want less of a mess, you can just leave them brown. It’s 2020 after all. Painting them will give the kids something extra to do to stay busy though! It’s easier to just paint the toilet paper rolls before cutting them, but if you want your craft to look more precise, you can do it afterward.

Cut each toilet paper roll horizontally into several pieces. The width of each piece should be about 1.5″.

Cut several squares from each color cellophane approximately the size of the width of the toilet paper roll pieces. It’s pretty to randomize the colors as much as possible, but if you can only find red and green cellophane, no worries!

Pinch each toilet paper roll piece on both sides to create a cat-eye shape. These will be the bulbs of your Christmas light garland.

Apply generous amounts of white glue on the edges of one side of each of the toilet paper roll pieces.

Stretch the cellophane and slowly apply it to the portion of the roll with glue on it. Let the cellophane bind with the roll for about an hour.

While you’re waiting for the bulbs to dry, cut small rectangles from the cereal box that will fit on the edge of each bulb to resemble the socket of a Christmas bulb. Paint the squares with white or black acrylic paint and set aside to dry.

Once the cellophane is dry use scissors to trim the excess.

Glue painted rectangles on the upper third of each bulb (these will appear as the bases of the bulbs or the sockets) and allow to dry. If you’re using hot glue, be careful to only apply it to the edges where the roll meets the cellophane. White glue will work fine and it more kid-friendly but will take longer to dry.

Hot glue the sockets onto your desired length of yarn and space them evenly to resemble a string of Christmas lights.

Your DIY toilet paper roll Christmas light garland craft can be as long or as short as you’d like to make it. You’re only limited by toilet paper rolls! Ordinarily, that wouldn’t matter but this is 2020 so godspeed to you and yours, and happy holidays!