Fun, Easy Crafts Kids Can Make With a Toilet Paper Roll

I’m of the firm belief that no child has ever been bested by boredom if given the right tools to wage battle against it. And by “right tools,” I most certainly mean ordinary household items that beg for imaginative transformation. You have to give kids credit for their inventiveness.

When my oldest first started Saturday morning ballet, I’d hit up her bedroom with a trash bag while she was at the dance studio with her dad. Her ability to upcycle nearly anything into an item for play is admirable, but she walks a fine line between salvaging and hoarding trash. To wit, once I recovered a plastic Easter egg stuffed to the brim with dryer lint. That was a head-scratcher for sure, but it also served as a reminder that kids don’t need much to let their imaginations and creativity take flight. Sometimes all a child needs is the simplest of supplies.

And what could be simpler and frankly, more plentiful, than an old toilet paper roll? Used up and headed for the garbage bin, these rolls can open the door to tons of creative play. To help inspire you and your little one, we’ve put together a list of 11 easy, fun, and engaging crafts that kids can make with this ordinary cardboard roll as a base.