DIY: Christmas characters
Spread a little festivity around your household with these cute DIY Christmas characters that you can make with the kids.
You will need:
🎄 Toilet paper rolls – (you can save these when you’ve finished a roll)
🎄 Tape
🎄 Googly eyes, pom poms, & coloured pipe cleaners
🎄 Scissors
🎄 A pencil
🎄 Something circular to draw a circle with (we used a coffee tin lid)
🎄 Glue
🎄 Sharpie
INSTRUCTIONS:
Making Santa:
Begin by measuring the red card next to the cardboard roll until it reaches half way and then mark a point there. Fold along the point and then cut it so you have a long of paper that is half the height of the cardboard roll. Place the piece of paper around the cardboard roll and tape in place.
To make the hat, take your circular stencil (we used a coffee lid) and using your pencil, draw an outline of the stencil on another piece of red card. Cut the outline and fold into quarters (fold in half, unfold, and fold in half again in other direction), then cut out one of the quarters. Fold the cut out until each end overlaps and tape together. Hot glue a white pom pom to the point of the hat, and you are finished!
Glue the hat onto the cardboard roll or, ‘body’, by placing hot glue along the top rim of the cardboard roll and then place the hat on.
Glue googly eyes just beneath the hat and glue white pom poms onto the ‘body’ so that it frames the face, going along the rim of the hat, along the centreline between red and brown cardboard and on either side of the eyes. Then glue a small red pom pom below the middle of the eyes for Santa’s cherry red nose.
Finally, place stick on gem stones on the centre of the body for Santa’s ‘buttons’, and you’re done!
Making the snowman:
Start by measuring a white piece of card equal lengths with the cardboard roll, mark, and then fold along the mark. Cut along the fold line and place card around cardboard roll, making the two ends meet, then tape together securely.
Pro tip: make the tape slightly longer so you can secure it better on the inside of the cardboard roll as well as the outside.
Making the earmuffs will be a task for the adult, and what you need to do is puncture holes with the scissors on opposite sides of the cardboard roll about 1cm down from the top. Then measure out the pipe cleaner how long you’d like it to be over the ‘head’ (remember to add extra length to secure it on the inside of the cardboard roll). Cut the pipe cleaner and feed either end of it into both the holes on the roll, folding the end of the pipe cleaner to stop it from falling. Now use the hot glue gun to secure white pom poms over the ends of the ‘earmuffs’ or on the ends of the pipe cleaner.
For the scarf, measure out how long you’d like the pipe cleaner to be and then cut it to desired length. Use a small amount of hot glue to fasten the middle of the pipe cleaner to the back of the cardboard roll, and fold it so the ends meet at the front and then twist them together once so they stay there.
Next, grab your sharpie and draw on the snowman’s face, leaving a gap between eyes and mouth for the nose.
Cut a small oval shape out of some orange paper and glue to the snowman’s face in the gap between eyes and mouth. Then you’re finished!
Making the reindeer:
Begin by folding the card board roll so it is flat and easy to cut, then trim along either side of the roll until you get to half way, staying about 1 cm away from the edge. Fold the large section of the cardboard in the middle to where the cut line ends and cut out the large section so you are left with a big gap between the smaller strands of cardboard remaining. Unfold the roll, returning it back to its circular state, and unfold the small strands of remaining cardboard. Cut about 1cm off of the top of the small remaining pieces of cardboard, then cut slits in the small sections of cardboard to create antlers, cutting away excess cardboard.
Glue googly eyes just above the middle of the ‘face’ and then glue a small red pom pom to the middle of the face and you have yourself a cute Rudolf Christmas creation.
Making the elf:
Start by measuring green paper next to the cardboard roll so that it’s just over half the length of the roll, make a mark there, make a fold in line with the mark, and then cut along the fold line.
Wrap the green paper around the cardboard roll and tape the ends together, leaving enough tape at the bottom to then place some on the inside of the roll to secure it well.
To make the hat, take your circular stencil (we used a coffee lid) and using your pencil, draw an outline of the stencil on another piece of red card. Cut the outline and fold into quarters (fold in half, unfold, and fold in half again in other direction), then cut out one of the quarters. Fold the cut out until each end overlaps and tape together. Take 1 or 2 white pipe cleaners and hot glue them to the bottom rim of the hat, and glue a white pom pom to the top of the hat and you’re finished with that.
Glue the hat onto the cardboard body, draw a cute elf face on, glue a small red pom pom nose on, stick on the gem stone buttons, and then you’re done!
