Create your own fun Valentine’s Day love bug toilet paper roll craft! It’s a great way to upcycle some of your empty toilet paper rolls and talk about why recycling is important.
The average person uses 100 rolls of toilet paper per year, that’s a lot of toilet paper rolls. They usually end up in the trash or recycling bin but it’s even better if you can upcycle them.
One way to upcycle toilet paper rolls is by using them as a craft supply. Instead of needing to buy cardboard tubes or use more paper you can use toilet paper rolls for fun crafts.
With Valentine’s Day coming up it’s the perfect time to use this versatile crafting supply to make an eco-friendly Valentine’s Day craft, a love bug.
You can use this idea to make all kinds of bugs but this one is perfect for Valentine’s Day. The rest of the year you can get creative and make ladybugs and other fun bugs using this same idea.
Valentines Toilet Paper Roll Craft
First, you’ll need to save empty toilet paper rolls, one per love bug. You’ll also need construction paper, craft eyes, pipe cleaners, paint pens or markers, and hot glue.
Because of the hot glue and markers, you’ll want to supervise this craft. You can likely find a different glue option that would work and use washable markers to cut down on possible accidents and so the craft would require less oversight.
Another fun idea for your love bugs is to add a magnet to the back so they can be displayed on the fridge. Just always be careful with kids and magnets as it can be very dangerous if kids swallow magnets.
Love Bug Toilet Paper Roll Craft
Create an adorable love bug out of toilet paper rolls as a way to celebrate Valentine's Day and keep a useable item of the landfill.
Materials
- Empty Toilet Paper Rolls
- Construction Paper
- Craft Eyes
- Pipe Cleaner
- Paint Pens or Markers
- Hot Glue
Instructions
- Size and cut construction paper & wrap and glue around entire roll.
- Use desired color construction paper to cut out 2 heart shapes for the wings Decorate wings with paint pens or markers, as desired, and attach with glue from the back of your bug (design facing front).
- Glue on craft eyes near the top of the tube.
- Using paint pens or markers, draw on heart shaped nose & mouth and decorate the body of your bug.
- For the antennae - cut the pipe cleaner in half, curl the top and attach with glue to the inside front of the tube.
- Your Love Bug is complete! If you'd like to use your love bug as a magnet simply hot glue a magnet to the back.
Why It’s Important to Recycle and Upcycle
While working on your love bugs it’s a good time to talk about why it’s important to recycle or upcycle items instead of putting them in the trash.
Here are some quick facts to discuss.
- The average American throws away four pounds of trash daily. That’s more than 1.5 tons of waste per person per year. That’s about the weight of one Black Rhinoceros!
- About 75% of our trash could be recycled but only about 30% is recycled.
- Recycling 1 ton of paper can save 17 trees.
- It takes 500 years for average-sized plastic water bottles to fully decompose.
- Over 100,000 marine animals die every year from plastic entanglement and ingestion.
- A single American consumes roughly two trees annually in paper products.
After your craft project and discussing some recycling facts and why we need to recycle, take a look at your own recycling. Talk about how you can do better.
You can also look through your recycling bin and see if there are more materials you can use to make more fun crafts. For an extra challenge, set a timer and see what fun item everyone can make just using items from the recycling bin and basic craft supplies like glue and markers.
Doing fun projects like this are a great chance for kids to learn about taking care of the planet. They also can serve as a good reminder to the adults in the house to do better as well.
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