Kids Craft: Toilet Paper Roll Owls

During the ornament challenge I showed off an owl ornament the kids and I made using beans, acorns, and seeds.  Truth be told I was out of hot glue sticks at the time and didn’t get to make the little critters exactly how I wanted.  But now the glue sticks have been restocked and I’ve finally got the little owl family I had envisioned. 

These birds make me think of macramé and 1970’s string art…and I love them!  Here’s a much better tutorial on how you can make your own! 


Supplies

• hot glue gun with plenty of glue to go around
• toilet paper rolls
• cash register/calculator tape rolls
• beans, seeds, acorns, spices, etc.

Directions

Start off by clipping a “V” into one of the ends of a roll.



Glue the “V” together, basically sealing off the end.

Begin gluing the seeds onto the roll.  With both the large and the small birds I began with the belly, which is made with pumpkin seeds.



I moved onto the back and sides, using beans…I have no idea what kind they are – brown?  Once the back and sides were done I added the acorn hat eyes and filled in any empty spots.



NOTE:  With the larger birds I literally went around the bottom edge and filled in the back before moving back to the front of the bird.  You cannot do that with the little birds. 



The acorn eyes take up so much space it’s best to place them once you get done with the belly and then fill in with the rest of the body.  As you can see from the picture above, kind of, the acorn doesn’t even have much to be glued to, so I attached some of the beans under the acorn.



To differentiate the girls from the boys we added broken beans to the ears of the little owls and a pumpkin seed for the larger ones.  And in keeping with nature, the fancy eared owls are the boys.  Girl birds don’t need bells and whistles to get attention. 

For the beaks I used a broken anise star, but another bean or seed would also work just fine.
These are a fun craft to make anytime of the year and could even be made on a larger scale…I’m thinking using a cocoa canister? 

If you’re worried about glue showing between the beans, grab some Mod Podge carefully apply it in the cracks and then sprinkle poppy or sesame seeds.

Ornament Option:  I started making these as ornaments but they are pretty heavy once you get all the seeds on.  But if that’s what you’re wanting to make, I would highly recommend making the smaller birds; or even cutting your toilet paper roll in half before starting.  When you glue the “V” together just add a bit of twine to create a tie to hang your ornament!  

 

(So…it was pretty clever of me to say “When Nature Calls” huh? I mean you get it right…owls made with natural stuff …toilet paper rolls…??? The thirteen year old boy inside me is dying right now!)

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