✨ A Craft Filled with Magical
Our recycled ocean family is growing! After making the Toilet Roll Octopus and Toilet Roll Crab, it’s time to add a colourful little Toilet Roll Fish to the underwater crew.
Using an empty toilet paper roll, coloured paper, and a few simple decorations, children can create their own tropical fish with bright fins, a wiggly tail, and a cheerful face. It’s quick, simple, and perfect for preschoolers and young children.
The Craft
You’ll only need:
- 1 empty toilet paper roll
- Coloured paper or washable paint
- Extra coloured paper or cardstock
- Child-safe scissors
- Glue stick
- Black marker
- Googly eyes (optional)
- Crayons or markers
- Stickers or paper circles for scales (optional)
✂️ Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Colour the Toilet Roll
Wrap the toilet roll with your favourite coloured paper. You can also paint it and leave it to dry before continuing.
Step 2: Make the Tail
Draw a simple fish tail shape on coloured cardstock and cut it out.
Glue the tail onto one end of the toilet roll.
Step 3: Make the Fins
Cut out two small side fins and one top fin from coloured paper or cardstock.
Choose a contrasting colour to make your fish extra colourful.
Step 4: Attach the Fins
Glue one fin onto each side of the toilet roll and attach the remaining fin along the top.
Gently fold the fins outward to give your fish a little more dimension.
Step 5: Add the Face
Glue a googly eye onto each side near the front of the fish, or draw the eyes yourself.
Add a little smile with a black marker.
Step 6: Decorate Your Fish
Add colourful paper circles, dots, stripes, hearts, or wavy lines to create the fish’s scales and patterns.
Every fish can look completely different!
Step 7: Ready to Swim!
Your Toilet Roll Fish is ready for its underwater adventure.
Place it beside your Toilet Roll Octopus and Toilet Roll Crab to continue building your recycled ocean family.
🌱 Educational Benefits
🐠 Introduces Ocean Animals
Children can learn about fish, their fins, tails, scales, and underwater habitats.
✋ Develops Fine Motor Skills
Cutting small shapes, gluing fins, and decorating scales help develop hand-eye coordination.
🎨 Inspires Creativity
Children can experiment with different colours, patterns, fins, and decorations to make their own unique fish.
🔷 Encourages Shape Recognition
Use circles for scales, triangles for fins, and other simple shapes while decorating the fish.
♻️ Promotes Recycling
Shows children how an empty toilet roll can become a colourful homemade toy.
🌊 Encourages Imaginative Play
The finished fish can join the octopus and crab for storytelling and pretend underwater adventures.
🎉 Wrap-Up
The DIY Toilet Roll Fish is a simple addition to our growing recycled ocean collection. With just a cardboard roll and a few colourful pieces of paper, children can create a bright little fish while practising cutting, gluing, decorating, and imaginative play.
Put your fish, crab, and octopus together, and your Little Mandu underwater world is really starting to come alive!
🌊 Little Mandu Tip: Make several fish in different colours and patterns to create a whole school of fish. Next, we can add a DIY Toilet Roll Shark to bring a bigger ocean friend into the collection! 🦈
For more creative kids’ activities, visit Little Mandu’s Crafts Corner.
