20 Things to Do with Toilet Paper Rolls

Cardboard tubes from toilet paper rolls are free, lightweight, sturdy enough for most craft applications, and arrive in a steady and renewable supply in most households. They can be cut, painted, folded, stacked, glued, and combined to make everything from children’s art projects to genuinely useful organizational tools. These 20 ideas range from quick five-minute projects to more involved craft sessions.

Kids’ Crafts and Creative Play

1. Toilet paper roll animals. Paint a roll brown and add paper ears and a yarn tail for a mouse. Cover it in green paper and add googly eyes for a frog. Cut a beak from yellow construction paper and add feathers for a bird. Simple animals are among the most popular toilet paper roll crafts for young children, and the process is more fun than the result.

2. Binoculars. Tape two rolls side by side, punch holes, thread a string for a neck strap, and decorate. Children who are exploring, birdwatching, or playing spy games will use these more enthusiastically than you’d expect from two empty cardboard tubes.

3. Castles and towers. Save multiple rolls, paint them gray, and arrange them as castle towers connected by paper drawbridge sections. Add a paper flag to the top. A toilet paper roll castle is a surprisingly satisfying afternoon construction project for children 5 and up.

4. Marble run segments. Cut rolls in half lengthwise, arrange at angles taped to a door or wall, and run a marble down the resulting track. Adjusting angles and adding complexity makes this an engineering activity as well as a toy.

5. Puppets for storytelling. Draw or paint a face on a roll, add yarn hair and fabric clothing, and use the roll as a finger puppet or stick puppet base. Groups of rolls can become an entire cast for a children’s story or play.

Home Organization

6. Cord management. Label each roll with the name of the cord it contains, slip the coiled cord inside, and store upright in a bin or drawer. Eliminates the tangle-and-search routine for chargers, headphones, and cables you use occasionally.

7. Jewelry and accessory organizer. Cut rolls to various heights, group them in a box or drawer, and use them as individual holders for bracelets, rings, and rolled scarves. Covered in decorative paper or painted to match, they work as well as commercial organizers at no cost.

8. Seed starting pots. Fill small toilet paper rolls with potting soil and plant seeds directly in them. When seedlings are ready to transplant, plant the whole roll — it will decompose in the soil. Biodegradable, free, and eliminates transplant shock.

9. Gift wrapping for small items. For a small gift, place it inside a roll, crimp and twist the ends closed, and decorate the outside. Particularly good for candy, jewelry, or gift cards — it’s neater than shoving them in tissue paper.

10. Drawer dividers. Stand multiple rolls upright in a junk drawer to create compartments for small items — rubber bands, batteries, pens, scissors, tape. Not permanent or beautiful, but effective and immediately improvable.

Decor and Seasonal Projects

11. Advent calendar. Stuff 24 rolls with small treats or notes, seal both ends with tissue paper twists, number them, and arrange in a bundle tied with ribbon. A homemade advent calendar that costs almost nothing and takes under an hour to assemble.

12. Wreaths. Flatten multiple rolls, cut each into rings, spray paint gold or silver, and glue them together in a circular wreath pattern. The geometric pattern of flattened cardboard rings is surprisingly elegant at a distance.

13. Votive candle holders. Cut rolls to short lengths, cut small patterns into the sides (star shapes, triangles), spray paint bronze or gold, and place over a battery-operated tea light. The cut pattern produces interesting shadows.

14. Napkin rings. Cut rolls into 2-inch sections, cover with fabric or decorative paper, and use as napkin rings for a casual table setting. Personalized with names for assigned seating at a party.

Nature and Science Projects

15. Bird feeders. Roll a tube in peanut butter, then roll in birdseed, thread a string through the center, and hang from a branch. One of the oldest and most reliable DIY bird feeders for children.

16. Bat houses. Bundle 10-12 rolls together with tape or twine, secure inside a wooden frame or box, and mount under an eave or in a tree. Small bats use cardboard tube bundles as roosting spots in some regions.

17. Bug observation stations. Place a roll in a garden bed and wait — various insects and small creatures use cardboard tubes for shelter. Check periodically with a flashlight to observe what has moved in.

Practical and Unusual Uses

18. Fire starters. Stuff a toilet paper roll with dryer lint, fold the ends closed, and use as a fire starter in a campfire or fireplace. The combination of cardboard and lint burns long enough to catch kindling reliably.

19. Tool storage. Stand rolls upright in a coffee can, toolbox section, or bin, and use them to store chisels, paintbrushes, knitting needles, or other long, slim tools upright and separated.

20. Postage and mailing tubes. For sending posters, certificates, drawings, or documents, flatten a roll slightly, slip the document inside, and tape the ends shut. For items that are less valuable, this improvised mailer works fine for casual mailing.

The common thread across all of these is that the toilet paper roll’s qualities — free, cylindrical, light, sturdy, cuttable, and paintable — make it genuinely useful for a surprising range of applications. Treating it as a resource rather than automatic recycling is one of the simplest forms of creative upcycling available in any household.