Make Toilet Paper Roll Airplanes
Initially, I titled this post "Bad Mamas make toilet roll airplanes" because I wanted to admit something to you.I'm a baaaad mama.
Yup, you read that right. I'm a bad mama... a really bad mama... why? Well, the other day we were playing around with Chuck and we started humming different songs for him to guess. At first we hummed his favorite song ("Life is a Highway" from the movie Cars) and he guessed it! Intrigued, we kept humming other songs from Cars 1, Cars 2, and Planes (his faves.) He couldn't name the songs specifically, but he could identify the movie that each song came from.
And then I started humming "ABC" to him, thinking that it would be a breeze for him to guess. I got through the entire song and then my son... my dear, sweet, transportation-loving child, looked up at me and said "Me no know mama."
What?! "Me no know?" He knows songs from movie soundtracks... but can't recognize ABC? We sing ABC to him at least twice a day when we brush his teeth. Oof. Double oof.
I guess we're not as entertaining as talking vehicles...
So... this reeeeeeaaaaally long intro was just my way of saying that my son loves cars, planes, trucks, trains... erm... basically anything that moves. So I thought I'd try to foster his love with a toilet paper airplane craft. These planes were inspired by the characters Dusty Crophopper and Skipper from the movie "Planes."
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Keep reading to see how we made these planes ( plane template included!)...
Materials to make toilet roll airplanes:
- Toilet paper roll
- Corrugated Cardboard
- Scissors
- Exacto Knife
- Round Head Fasteners
- Paint
- Paint Brushes
- Sharpie Markers
- Hot Glue Gun
- Scrap paper
- Pencil
- Optional: Mod Podge
and Sponge brush
- Optional: This Paper
- Optional: Template (If you want to use the same parts as me, find the template at the bottom of post)
Directions to make toilet roll airplanes:
1. Cut out your airplane parts from corrugated cardboard.
2. Then, use your exacto knife to cut out slits in your toilet paper roll to slip the wing and tail pieces on. (Two pairs of slits on each side and one slit in the back.) Also, poke matching holes through your circle front and propeller pieces for the fastener
to go through.
3. Slide your pieces on to make sure everything fits.
(Note: If you're using my template, I purposely made the circle front piece bigger than the toilet paper roll so that I'd have a better chance of hot gluing them together. Then, I just trimmed off the excess bits with my scissors.)
4. Cover your work area and get yourself a little painter.
(Note: We studied some photos of Dusty and Skipper to see what colors belonged on each. Then, I encouraged Chuck to paint each part. Also, please excuse his dirty shirt. We've worn it so much that it's a bit tattered. Now we use it as a smock.)
5. After your paint dries, cut out tabs for your planes' eyes. Also, use this marker
to add extra details.6. Optional: If you want to protect your paint job, cover your work with a layer of Mod Podge. Lay your pieces on this paper to dry so they don't stick to your work surface. (I'm really glad I did this because Chuck played quite a bit with the planes and took them outside. They still look pretty good.)
7. Attach your propellers to your front circle piece with the fastener. Then, hot glue the circle piece onto the toilet paper roll. Trim any excess cardboard off. Then, slide your wings and tail pieces in place. Feel free to add hot glue to further secure the different parts.
Enjoy your new fleet of toilet roll airplanes! (Painting the planes looked like fun, so I painted my own orange plane in the back.)
Now if you've got yourself a transportation-loving kid too, take a peek at some of the crafts below:
- Cardboard Spaceship Climbing Toy
- Styrofoam gliders
- Blowing up balloons with baking soda and vinegar
- Shampoo Bottle Sailboat
- Cardboard Taxi Bank
Happy crafting!
(We had pretty grey weather last week so I really struggled to take nice, bright photos. Special thanks to hubby for working his camera magic and taking nice photos for me.)