Cardboard Tube Monsters
Unleash your toddler’s wild imagination with these colorful and silly Cardboard Tube Monsters. This open-ended craft is fantastic for creative expression because there are absolutely no rules when it comes to designing a monster. Monsters can have one eye, five eyes, crazy yarn hair, or mismatched arms. Utilizing recycled toilet paper or paper towel rolls makes this an inexpensive project, and the process of painting, gluing, and decorating keeps toddlers engaged for hours as they build their own cast of friendly characters.
Gather several clean cardboard tubes and paint them in bright, non-traditional monster colors like lime green, electric blue, and hot pink. Once the paint is dry, set out a tray of decorating supplies: googly eyes of various sizes, colorful pom-poms, pipe cleaners, scrap paper, and child-safe glue. Let your toddler lead the design process. They can glue multiple eyes all over the tube, wrap pipe cleaners around the body to make bendy arms, or stuff colorful yarn into the top of the tube for a wild head of hair. These free-standing monsters are perfect for imaginative pretend play once the glue dries.