HOME TOUR

Our little kiddos are lucky to have a playroom. Since the house was built in 1879 I’m pretty sure the initial intention for this room was not “kids swinging from the ceiling.” But for four years now it’s been the happy spot of squeals, joy and all things kiddo-related. I literally wouldn’t have it any other way. Now every year at Christmas we put up a tree in the corner–a “fun tree” as my hubby calls it. Apparently there’s not something inherently “fun” about our pretty tree in the family room. This year it is extra fun with the addition of cute toilet paper roll animal ornaments.

Now this playroom tree is the tree I’m not suppose to touch. It’s suppose to be wacky and decorated by little hands and proudly displaying all those Hallmark ornaments Matt’s grandma keeps sending. I’ve been really good the last couple years but I couldn’t help myself when a fun idea entered my head. We started collecting toilet paper rolls a few months back to turn into animal ornaments. Hubby began to question my sanity when I hauled toilet paper rolls back across the country after visiting California for Thanksgiving.

The kiddos are bigger now and loved mommy’s crafty idea to make animal ornaments. So hubby’s Hallmark ornaments are on hold for the moment. You’d think collecting toilet paper rolls would have been a pretty easy task. As it turns out, I apparently buy the mega rolls of toilet paper at Target and boy heck do they take time to get through. Haha!

This is clearly not an original idea. One scroll on Pinterest and there’s enough toilet paper animals to inspire your crafting. But we had fun making the animals our own. And when I gave the boys tasks like, “Kai paint this crocodile green” or “Cade can you paint the spots on the giraffe?” Oh how they loved it. I finished off the animals with eyes and mouths so there’s a relative consistency but they’ve been mostly created by little hands.

Instructions

Really all you need are your standard issue toilet paper or paper towel rolls, some acrylic paints, paint brushes and ribbon to hang the ornaments. I’ve collected my fair share of paints over the years and inevitably some dry out. Plus I always feel like I’m missing a color. Collections like this one give you a nice assortment of colors all in one go and are a good investment.

I had these left over palettes from Cade’s 4th birthday party and they’re perfect for mixing paints and are easy for little hands to hold.

Using paper in addition to extra bits of toilet paper rolls, you can make just about any animal. When all was said and done, we had amassed quite the menagerie. Consequently, we are still making ornaments as toilet paper rolls become available.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these toilet paper roll animal ornaments. Sometimes the cutest things can come from the most ordinary of things. The beautiful pictures in this post are by my friend Ruthie of Ruth Eileen Photography.