Ok!  I’ve been waiting all day to share this one with you!   This little toilet roll and tissue paper snowman ornament just about killed me with it’s cuteness.  Seriously.  How can a toilet roll, some tissue paper and a couple of googly eyes be THIS cute?  It’s the googly eyes.  it has to be.

Anyway,  I’ve had this idea kind of bouncing around in my brain for a while – a toilet roll snowman face.  I wasn’t sure what to use for the hat and scarf, but I knew that I wanted it to be just the face because we’ve done the whole snowman with toilet rolls before.  You can see it here.

This morning, I was rooting around in my craft cupboards, and it dawned on me:  tissue paper and crepe paper!
Here’s a list of all of the materials we used:

• toilet rolls
• white paint/glue/staper
• tissue paper (a long strip for the hat)
• crepe paper or a mesh produce bag (scarf)
• googly eyes
• orange craft foam or construction paper for nose
• buttons, beads or artificial flowers for embellishments on hat
• hole punch/thread for hanging

The hooligans got to work on a couple of new skills with this craft: stapling and tying a knot.  The stapler instantly became the most popular tool in the craft room, and dozens of pieces of paper were stapled together throughout the remainder of the day.

We started by stapling one end of the toilet roll together.  This requires real strength when you’re a toddler.  Some children required assistance, and some mastered the technique right away.

Because one end of the tube is stapled shut, you could drop a candy cane or some other little treat down into the top of your ornament when it’s finished.

The next step was to paint the toilet rolls white.  The cardboard was already white, but I thought they needed a little spiffing up. 

When the paint was dry (a hair dryer speeds this process up), I cut a long strip of tissue paper to measure approx. 6 x 20 inches.  This would become the “hat”.  Fold the strip in half a time or two, and grab the stapler again, and attach the strip to the top of the snowman’s head.  Have your little one can wrap the length of tissue paper around the tube a couple of times, and staple it in place.

Now it’s time for the scarf.  We used crepe paper for some, and vegetable netting for others, but you can use whatever you have on hand: fleece, fabric, wide ribbon etc.  Heck, you could even cut a strip from a colourful plastic bag.  Honestly, when we’re crafting, we use whatever we have.

With the scarf, we placed the toilet roll on top of a strip of crepe paper, and as I held the roll in place, I talked them through the process of tying a knot.  It was tricky for sure, and I had to extend a finger here and there to help them along, but for the most part, they were able to tie their scarves with little assistance.  When it came to tightening the knots, I emphasized that they’d have to pull gently because the crepe paper was fairly delicate.

Once the scarves were in place, the hooligans glued on the eyes and noses.  (love this little upside-down nose!)and they finished up with a button (or several) on their snowman’s hat.

Punch a couple of holes in the sides of the hat, and attach a thread for hanging.

Honestly.  Could they be any cuter?