Paper Towel Airplane

This airplane is easy to make and sturdy, making it a great craft for young children.

Materials:
• 2 paper towel rolls
• paint
• scissors
• decorations for the plane

Directions:
1. Cut approximately 2 inches from one end of one paper towel roll

2. Cut the smaller paper towel roll into a rhombus and fold up the corners

3. Staple the rhombus to one end of the uncut paper towel roll

4. Approximately 1 inch into the opposite end of the paper towel roll, cut a 1 inch across the top of the paper towel roll. Make 2 flaps folded out


5. Affix the larger cut piece of paper towel roll to the flaps made in the previous step. Make sure it is secure

6. Paint and decorate!

Tissue Box Guitar

Singing while strumming along on a guitar is a fun activity that most children enjoy.

Front of the guitar

Materials:
• empty tissue box
• paper towel roll
• paper
• paint
• scissors





Directions:

Side of the guitar

Before starting, decide if your child wants to use the design already on the box or if your child wants to paint over the entire box. We found that dark colors easily cover the design. Bit, of your child wants light colors, it is better to cover the box with paper before starting.


1. With the scissors, make a hole the paper towel roll can fit securely in. We found that making a t shape that is a little smaller than the width of the paper towel roll works best

2. Slide in the paper towel roll. It should fit snugly. If it is loose, secure with glue or tape

3. Cut a piece of paper to fit on the back of the tissue box. Decorate.

 Back of the guitar

  4. Paint and decorate the tissue box and the paper towel roll

  5. When dry, slide 3 rubber bands onto the tissue box

  6. When dry, affix the decorated paper to the back of the tissue box






Enjoy!

Fairy Tale Castle

 One of our students enjoyed imagining herself to be a princess in a beautiful castle. Everyday, she would share a new story - one that was bright and imaginative. After one of her particularly colorful stories that the class enjoyed hearing, we decided to make her dream a reality by making a fairy tale castle.

Materials:

• 2 paper towel rolls cut in half (with one left over half) or 3 toilet paper rolls 
• scissors
• stapler 
• piece of cardboard
• glue (we used tacky glue) 
• paint 
• additional materials to decorate the castle - for this castle we used crepe paper, pipe cleaners and popcorn foam 

Directions

1. Take 3 paper rolls (either paper towel rolls or toilet paper rolls). On two of the rolls, cut small squares out of the top, leaving a space between each cut out square. On one side, cut out small castle windows. On the third roll, cut out 2 small castle windows across from each other. 

2. Staple the rolls together. The rolls with the tops cut will be on either side, and the roll with only the windows will be in the middle

Step 3: Paint the paper towel rolls. Allow to dry

Step 4: Glue paper towel rolls to a piece of cardboard. 

Step 5: Paint the piece of cardboard. Allow to dry. 

6. When dry, use your imagination and decorate the castle! It can be as ornate or as simple as you would like!