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.