Thursday, March 10, 2011

Changing Faces - Toilet Roll Dolls

I made these dolls to extend our learning about emotions and under estimated how much the girls would love them. I'm glad I made three or else we may have had a sibling war on our hands!
They would be a great project to make with the kids but we are a bit time poor at the moment with all of Bubble's appointments so I put them together over the course of a few nights. There is no end to the creative and play possibilities.
They look a bit complicated to make, but I assure you they were a piece of cake! :-)

WE USED:

* paper
* scissors
* paint
* markers/textas
* strong craft glue
* sheet of thick card (we used the side from a cardboard box)
* two sizes of cardboard tube (we used toilet paper rolls and a wrapper paper roll).
If you can't find a smaller size tube that fits inside your toilet rolls you can just make some by rolling and taping thick flat card.

With the larger size rolls (the toilet rolls) I made a few 'dolls'. Bubble is very interested in space and Squeak loves getting about in her rain gear (in 25'c weather :-D) so I made an astronaut and wet weather character as well as a little girl. You could make anything though, even animals!

They were very simple to do - first cut a little window at about the height and size of your characters face.

Then decorate however you like. I painted our rolls and then used markers to add the details after it was dry. You could use cut out pictures from magazines or make clothes from fabric/felt - anything at all really!

I gave the little wet weather character an umbrella for extra effect and play value.

Once your dolls are made you can make the face inserts.
Cut your smaller size rolls to be the same height as your toilet rolls (our wrapping paper roll was one long tube so I took to it with a hacksaw).
Then cut discs from your cardboard sheet and glue the tubes securely in the centre.
Cut four or more small circles of paper (or you could use dot labels) and draw a simple face showing a different emotion on each one. I made a happy, sad, surprised and angry face on each of ours.
Another idea would be to take photos of your child pulling faces and use those instead of drawing them.
Glue the faces around the inner tube making sure they are at the same level as the 'face windows' cut into the toilet roll characters (a simple way to do this is to slip the toilet roll over the insert and use a pencil to trace the window straight onto the inner tube. You can then use this as a guide to glue the face on).

Now you just slide your toilet roll dolls over the top of the emotion inserts and you are ready to play! All your child has to do is spin the cardboard disc at the base to change the expression on the dolls face.


Bubble changing her astronaut from sad to happy :-)


These have been played with endlessly in many many different ways. The ability to change the expressions on the dolls faces has led to so much imaginative play and lots of discussion about what might make them feel sad/happy/angry/surprised.



34 comments:

  1. Oh I love these! What a great idea! I am for sure linking to your post in my Saturday Learning links post.
    I am also a new follower!

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  2. Caz, love anything with recycle items. This one turned out great!

    Check out my recent post @ http://blog.memetales.com/2011/03/paper-necklace-kids-craft/

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  3. Wow, those are so cute!

    I'm a new follower from the Friday blog hop. Nice to meet you!

    Wife on the Roller Coaster
    http://www.ridingtherollercoaster.com

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  4. Oh my word, these are BRILLIANT! My son would ADORE these!! Especially since he plays with his "Loo Roll Men" all the time - he would be so chuffed if he could change their faces too! Love it love it love it!

    Thank you so much for sharing on Kids Get Crafty!!

    Maggy

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  5. This is such an easy and fun project to do with the kiddos:) Thanks for sharing it with us! And I'll totally look through all your fun activities you have posted here. I am now following you thanks to Friday Blog Hop, and it would be so nice if you could share the love back on my blog;)
    Also today we have the coolest blog hop there is... no rules just fun and would love you to join in with us at Boost My Blog Friday, where you can meet lots of friends and have a great time:) See you there!
    Happy Friday

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  6. Love these!! Such a cute idea!! I think I would have so much fun making these! Now just to find the time :)

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  7. What a great idea for teaching emotions! I am definitely going to have to make some for my son.

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  8. Love this! And heaven knows we generate enough toilet paper rolls around here to have the supplies in a week.

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  9. Thanks for sharing, I think they're awesome!

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  10. Oh my gosh, these are awesome!!! I want to make some!!!

    I'd love to have you join in on my For the Kids Friday Link Party. Stop by and see what we're up to. You're sure to find something fun :)

    http://sunscholars.blogspot.com

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  11. Awesome! Added link to http://www.squidoo.com/reusepaperrollunder paper roll characters! :) Love it and gonna make it!

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  12. i love this idea !!!! i will try with my kids !
    thank you for your great blog and for sharing with us !

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  13. I love the idea, and now, that is artwork.

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  14. My kids would love these --- I love these!!
    danielle

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  15. Oh wow! My girls would LOVE these! Thanks so much!

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  16. They are great, perfect for talking to children about emotions and developing empathy through play :)

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  17. This is such a brilliant idea, now we have something fun to do with our toilet rolls! I found you through Christie's 'Childhood 101' blog... (thanks Christie!) :D

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  18. WOW! I am amazed by your creativity... I am certainly making those at home with my daughter and at school with my students! THANK YOU!!! I will put a link of your beautiful masterpiece on my page..

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  19. Wow! Such a brilliant idea & just perfect for exploring emotions. can't wait to make them with my little girl. Thank you!

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  20. Wow, those are great! My oldest is almost 8, and I think he could make those himself! Very creative idea!

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  21. I wanted to let you know that I featured this on my "What I Bookmarked This Week" post today. Stop by and check it out!

    danielle

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  22. I hope you are doing well.Thanks for sharing your cute craft on "No Time For Flash Cards".We have featured your craft with our book. Here's the link back - http://www.memetales.com/books/71-The-Way-We-Feel

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  23. These are so adorable! I think I might also let the inner tube stick out the top so you could turn them that way, I think my 2yo would have an easier time with that than the dial at the bottom.

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  24. I asked my teenage class to make these for my toddlers class to help them with their emotions in English & the teenagers loved making them, they turned out fabulous, so many different ideas & they were so proud to help the kiddies groups. Excellent. We Love Them :)

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  25. I have to do something like this with my son.

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  26. And this is brilliant too. We have loads of toilet paper dolls, but none with changing expressions - I reckon it would totally change the way JJ would play with them. Love this!

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  27. This is such a cute idea! I think it would be great to create for a unit on feelings.

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  28. Wonderful idea! I'll make these. Thanks for sharing.

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  29. I'm your next fan. I have just made these with 6 year olds as part of their study about emotions. It worked a treat. We are not allowed to use toilet rolls but little rolled tubes are good enough. Thank you. I have linked to your site.

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  30. What a fantastic idea. I have an autistic son and this would've been great when he was younger and we were teaching him to recognize emotions. It's still a bit of work in progress, but I think he "mostly" has it now. I'm passing this along to his therapists though. It's also a great idea for making dolls to play dollhouse. They can use the expressions in part of their pretend play.

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