This toilet paper roll heart garland is my latest favourite Valentine’s craft for kids to make. It’s super easy to prep and put together, and it requires minimal supplies. It’s also a terrific way to put a dent in your ever-growing stash of toilet paper rolls.
Your kids can make this garland as long as they wish, and in as many colours as they like to decorate a window, hutch, mantel or bookshelf for Valentine’s Day.
What You'll Need:
- toilet paper rolls or paper towel rolls
- scissors
- paint
- paint brushes
- low-heat glue gun
- string or yarn
Do your kids love Gary the Unicorn?
These 12 printable valentines feature Gary and friends plus a few pandemic-style greetings.
How It's Made:
Paint your toilet paper rolls inside and out and allow them to dry. If your paint brush won’t reach every part of the inside of the roll, don’t worry, we’ll be cutting them up in the next step, and you can paint any missed bits then.
When your paint is dry, cut the cardboard rolls into strips. There’s no need to make them all exactly the same size. Ours vary quite a bit, from a 1/2 inch to 1-inch wide.
Next, it’s time to turn these circular strips into hearts. Pick up one of the strips and press it together to flatten it. This will create an oval with pointed ends. The bottom point will be the bottom point of your heart.
Press down on the top point to create the two rounded bumps at the top of your heart. You may need to pinch and wiggle things a little to get the shape just right.
Squeeze a dab of hot glue into the crease between the two bumps, and pinch together until the glue dries. Repeat this process with all of the strips until you have a pile of colourful hearts in front of you.
Next, lay your hearts out in a line and arrange them in the colour order that you want. Kids can practice patterning here, or they can arrange the colours in random order.
To assemble your garland, attach each heart to the one beside it with a dab of hot glue, and tie a long length of string to the hearts on each end.
To display your garland, tie or tape the strings whenever you wish, and enjoy!
Jackie Currie
Read more from Jackie here.
Jackie Currie is a mother, daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind the blog Happy Hooligans. A self-proclaimed glitterphobe, she specializes in easy, affordable arts & crafts and good, old-fashioned play.
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