A simple unicorn craft for kids made from toilet paper rolls. Plus a pegasus or three! And a way to weight the feet so they don’t tip over. The kids had so much fun making and playing with these!
Some awesome blogger friends of mine have joined together to offer an eBook full of fun kids’ crafts.
It’s called Happy Handmade and is just lovely—beautifully designed and filled with family-friendly craft projects.
I want to make almost everything in the book! Even the few ideas we’ve already done in some form or another, such as the tape-resist T-shirt and, of course, paper chain garlands (always a favorite!).
But my kids weighed in and voted for the toilet paper roll unicorns.
Because, well, they’re unicorns!
And because they have as much love for cardboard tubes as they do for unicorns. And as much love for toys and pretend play as they do for craft projects (more, probably). And because Daphne’s preschool is currently doing a month-long unit on magical creatures.
So unicorns it was.
A Unicorn Craft from Happy Handmade
I printed out the pages with the unicorn craft instructions and we set to work.
We had so much fun making these—and the kids have been enjoying playing with them.
We made a few little changes to ours and also made some pegasuses (pegasi?), so I thought I’d share a bit about our process here.
And then tell you how you can get this eBook…
How to Make Unicorns from Cardboard Tubes
Step 1: Cut out the unicorn pieces
For our unicorns, we used both toilet paper rolls as well as paper towel rolls cut into thirds. The template provided in the eBook made it easy to know how to cut out the unicorn pieces from the cardboard tubes. And while the instructions said to cut the head and horn from cardstock, we just used the extra cardboard from the toilet paper rolls and it worked fine.
Step 2: Paint the cardboard unicorn pieces
We painted all of our unicorn cardboard pieces with acrylic paint.
Step 3: Glue the unicorn together
Then, I set up the glue gun.
The instructions said to use tacky glue to assemble the pieces, but I didn’t have any (what kind of art studio am I running, anyway?!), but my motto is that when it’s at all possible to use a glue gun, a glue gun shall be used.
So easy! So quick! So fun!
Both kids are handy with a glue gun but I ended up doing the gluing while they were running around making noise and acting like animals.
Using a glue gun can be therapeutic and help you tune out the chaos around you…
Anyhoo… I digress…
Step 4: Add details
We added wings to some of our unicorns to turn them into pegasuses.
Daphne drew her faces on her unicorn and pegasus…
…but Maia and I went with the googly eyes suggested in the eBook.
The lightweight unicorns were a tad top heavy and tippy, so I glued some yard sale buttons to the insides of the feet as weights. A total hack, but it worked well!
Step 5: Play with your new cardboard unicorns!
Once the unicorns and pegasuses were finished, the girls played with them.
And it turns out that the hollow toilet paper roll construction makes them perfect as steeds for figurines!
Even Kristoff took a ride on a unicorn.
What do you think? Would you like to make some toilet paper roll unicorns?
You can learn more about the eBook or buy a copy for your family here.
Besides the unicorn craft (which comes from Kate of The Craft Train), the Happy Handmade ebook has lots of other fun kids crafts by creative bloggers including MollyMoo, Babble Dabble Do, Meri Cherry, Art Bar, Pink Stripey Socks, willowday, Small for Big, and others.
Enjoy!
Want more fun kids crafts that are also toys that kids can play with after they make them? Here are 21 Craft Ideas for Kids to Make then Play With.
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10 Comments
Ana
January 26, 2015 at 10:04 amThese turned out so well! And it looks like your girls had loads of fun making them! Thanks for reviewing our book :)
Jean Van't Hul
January 26, 2015 at 1:10 pmThanks, Ana! We had such a nice time together making these!
Kate
January 26, 2015 at 3:35 pmOh how I love seeing other people making our craft ideas! these look just adorable and I’m flattered that out of the many beautiful craft ideas in Happy Handmade your girls chose to make the unicorns. The wings are a great addition! Thanks for your lovely review :-)
Jean Van't Hul
January 27, 2015 at 4:45 amThanks for such a fun idea, Kate! :)
Alison
January 27, 2015 at 10:06 pmMy daughter is obsessed with unicor. This is great. Thanks for sharing. P.s. Love Kristoff riding the unicorns too.
Alison
Theguiltymommy.com
Jean Van't Hul
January 28, 2015 at 9:15 amI hope you and your daughter have fun with this activity, Alison!
Jojo
January 28, 2015 at 3:16 amWhat kind of glue gun do you have? I have been looking for one and all the reviews end up scaring me off of each type.
Jean Van't Hul
January 28, 2015 at 9:14 amWe have a couple different ones, a mini and a regular size hot glue gun. We tried a low-temp glue gun and it was harder for the kids to use. I’m not at home at the moment and don’t recall brand names, but I think I link to mine in this Tools for Art post :: https://artfulparent.com/2014/01/the-best-tools-for-a-successful-kids-art-experience.html
Miquela
February 6, 2015 at 3:18 amWe made these this morning. And, as I knew it would be, the outcome was a hit. :D Our paper rolls are heavy-duty affairs, so I had toq
Miquela
February 6, 2015 at 5:13 amMy daughter and I made these this morning. And, as I knew it would be, the outcome was a hit. :D Our toilet paper rolls are heavy-duty affairs, so I had to do the cutting and glueing. (My daughter is 4.) The crowning touch was using feathers (from a feather duster) for the wings.
My daughter says: Thank you for your idea of unicorns. They are beautiful.