Weekend crafting: Choo choo train

We've been saving our tissue paper rolls recently as I discovered that there was so much that you can do with them (thank you, Pinterest). I like that we are able to re-use these items and help save the environment too :)

This week, we made a choo choo train. I basically followed this blog to make this train. Theirs is so much prettier than what the boy and I made. We did not have a lot of mineral water bottle caps so I just cut off paper circles from another tissue paper roll to serve as wheels. Other blogs I saw used buttons instead of the caps.

Here are the materials we used:

7 tissue paper rolls
glue
super glue (I'd use glue gun if I had one)
scissors
yarn
water color
puncher

How to make the train:

1. Paint the tissue paper rolls.

2. Cut the edges of three paper rolls to a semi-circle. These make the top of the engine.

3. Cut one roll so that you can straighten it out to cut out the wheels. I used a five peso coin as guide. I made a total of 12 wheels and put 4 on each cable. The boy helped me paint everything.

4. Punch holes on each cable, two on each edge.

5. String the cables together using yard.

6. Glue the wheels and the engine tops. I made a mistake of using regular glue which turned out to be a real mess. It took too long for it to dry and the kid kept removing them. Use a glue gun if you have one. I remembered we had super glue at home so I used that on the engine tops.

I don't know how long this toy will "live". The caterpillar we made a few weeks back only lasted a few days. It was fun to make and I love how my boy's face lights up once we finish an activity.

Weekend Crafting: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Summer classes ended a few weeks back. Since then, the boy and I have been trying to work on his fine motor skills by doing worksheets I would get online. To change his routine, I decided to do some crafts. We started to save the paper rolls and made this caterpillar.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Everything we needed, I bought at the nearby bookstore. I cut the tissue paper roll in to 3 rolls using a cutter. You can make a shorter caterpillar using just 2 rolls (6 segments).

toilet rolls, googley eyes, yarn and glue

The boy and I took about an hour to finish painting all the rolls. I did most of the painting. He asked me to paint over some of the rolls he did. It was a fun activity for the both of us.

Painting time

I used gel glue to stick the googley eyes and the mouth (yarn). I would have preferred using glue gun, which would have been less messy but mine is missing. Note to self, try looking for it. Who am I kidding? I'll probably buy a new one soon.

Caterpillar's head

Once the paint was dry, I went ahead and attached the rolls one by one. You can use glue but I went with staple wires. It was easier and less messy for me. For the antennae, I used those twisty wires. I punched two small holes on top of the would be head and inserted those orange wires and voila! It turned out pretty cute if I may say so myself :)

In action

The boy enjoying his new toy

The boy seemed to enjoy his new toy. 

Dungis Mr. Caterpillar

The glue I used for the eyes and mouth made a mess, I think I put too much. 

To make the experience complete, I thought of telling him  Eric Carle's story about the very hungry caterpillar and I found this video.

I did not stop there, I had the brilliant idea of printing out the whole story to make it more interactive for the boy. He enjoyed it so much that we read it 10x in one sitting. Who thinks it's a good idea now? Lol. Really, I am happy that he appreciates it so much. I just hope telling the story 3x would be enough for a day.

I got my free downloadable printouts from here. I hung it to the wall using yard. The kid had fun putting the caterpillar through each food. This one got him busy for a few hours.

How about you, any crafting activities you enjoyed doing with your kid?