7 Things to Do with Loo Rolls

You might be surprised how much mileage you can get from a simple cardboard tube. Here are seven activities to try with your little ones, one for each day of the week - with the developmental reasoning behind each one.

Why Cardboard Tubes Are Worth Keeping

Cardboard tubes are one of those materials that have no predetermined purpose - which means children have to decide what to do with them. This kind of open-ended creative problem-solving is enormously valuable. They are also free, endlessly available, and produce minimal mess compared to most craft activities.

1. Shape Stamping

What to do: Reshape four or five rolls into different shapes - square, rectangle, triangle, heart and circle work well. Press the shape and hold it with a rubber band or tape. Dip the ends into different coloured paint and let your child stamp away on large paper.

Why it matters: This activity introduces geometric shapes in a hands-on way, develops hand grip and pressure control, and produces something genuinely beautiful. Great for making cards to send to grandparents.

Best age: 18 months and up.

2. Create a Creature

What to do: Loo roll creatures are quick and easy to pull together. Bunnies, bugs or crazy monster creations - whatever takes their fancy. Set out coloured card, paper, googly eyes and any other decorations on a tray with some glue and let their imagination lead the way.

Why it matters: Making a character from scratch, even a simple one, involves planning (what do I want it to look like?), decision-making (which eye goes where?), and spatial reasoning. Children who make their own characters also tend to play with them longer and more imaginatively than with bought figures.

Best age: 2.5 and up.

3. Cars, Rockets and Things That Fly

What to do: Wrap a roll in coloured paper and cut out four rocket fins from card. Make a cone from card for the top, attach it, and thread the rocket onto a piece of taut string. Pull back and launch.

Why it matters: Building something that actually works - even a simple paper rocket on a string - teaches children about cause and effect, trial and error, and the satisfaction of iterating until something functions. When it does not work first time, that is a useful lesson too.

Best age: 3 and up for building; any age for watching or playing with the finished rocket.

4. Bird Feeder

What to do: Cover the outside of a toilet paper roll with peanut butter, then roll it in birdseed until well coated. Thread a piece of twine through and hang it somewhere ideally out of reach of squirrels.

Why it matters: A bird feeder creates an ongoing reason to look out of the window and pay attention to the natural world. Children who observe birds regularly start to distinguish species, notice behaviour, and ask questions. These are early scientific habits, and they start with a sticky roll and a bag of birdseed.

Best age: Any age. Getting hands covered in peanut butter and birdseed is part of the appeal.

Note: Use peanut-free sunflower butter if allergy is a concern.

5. Seedling Planter

What to do: Make four cuts about a third of the way up the roll, then fold the cut sections inward like closing a box. Fill with light potting compost and add seeds. Sit on a sunny windowsill, keep watered, and watch the magic happen.

Why it matters: Caring for something living is one of the most powerful early childhood experiences. Children who grow things develop responsibility, patience, and a genuine connection to the natural world. When seedlings are strong enough, the cardboard tube goes directly into the soil - no transplanting shock, and children love that the pot disappears.

Best age: 2 and up with adult help for the first setup.

6. Flying Fish

What to do: Wrap a roll in coloured tissue paper squares, add a tissue paper tail, and hang on string as a decoration. Beautiful as mobiles and endlessly fascinating for little ones to watch move in a breeze.

Why it matters: Making something decorative that actually goes on display gives children a sense of contribution and pride in their home environment. Tissue paper work also develops delicate fine motor control - the paper is light and tears easily, which requires careful handling.

Best age: 3 and up.

7. Kaleidoscope

What to do: A paper towel roll works best here, but a loo roll will do. Line the inside with a strip of reflective card or tin foil, add a circle of coloured tissue paper across one end secured with an elastic band, and look through the other end. Rotate it in the light.

Why it matters: A kaleidoscope that a child has made themselves is incomparably more interesting than one from a shop. It is also a genuine introduction to optics - children may not understand how reflection works, but they are experiencing it and asking questions about it.

Best age: 3 and up to make; any age to enjoy.

More Ideas If You Have Plenty

If cardboard tubes are in good supply, you can also try:

• A marble run taped to a wall or door (paper towel rolls work best for this)
• A simple telescope with a circle of coloured cellophane at one end
• Threading large beads or pasta shapes onto tubes for a quiet sorting activity

If you would like to come and see how we bring these kinds of activities to life at Little Starlings in Balham, book a tour and come and say hello.