We enjoy using household items for crafting. And it’s funny what inspiration you can have. Our most recent idea were to make RCMP officer from cardboard rolls!
Two weeks ago I was sitting and trying to relax as the children had both just gone to sleep. I looked over and saw this photo which was taken in the Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada airport while we were ‘home’ for Easter and were waiting for my sister to arrive from Montreal. Every RCMP completes their 24 weeks of initial training in Regina at“Depot” Division, just a short walk from where I grew up. You don’t often see Mounties in their Red Serge uniform other than during special official ceremonies. We have been honoured to have seen them in the airport the past two times we have been home. This particular Mountie was waiting in style for family or friends to arrive.
Then inspiration struck! I thought I could perhaps fashion a toilet paper roll craft in time for Canada Day. I grabbed a piece of paper and drew a template so that I wouldn’t forget come morning, and here is the result.
To make your own Canada Day RCMP you will need:
- a toilet paper roll
- red, black, brown and flesh-coloured paint
- brown, yellow and black construction paper
- gold sequins
- newspaper
- masking tape and glue
- markers
And this is how we created our Canada Day RCMP troop:
The first thing you do is draw a line around the tube about 2/3 of the way down.
Paint the smaller portion of the tube black.
Take some newspaper and crumple it up into the tube, with a little sticking out of the top.
Take some masking tape and go around the top edge of the tube and cover over the top of the newspaper and tube.
Paint the remainder of the tube and the masking tape red.
Take another piece of the newspaper and crumple it into a ball and cover it with masking tape for it to hold it’s shape.
Paint the ball in the flesh colour of your choice. This will be the head.
Take another small piece of newspaper and make it into a cocktail sausage shape and lie it on a piece of newspaper like so.
Take your masking tape and use it to hold these two shapes together, covering the whole lot to make a hat.
Paint the hat brown, or, if you’re like me and you have trouble making brown (I ended up with a big pot of purple), use a brown marker to colour it.
After all the paint has dried, glue the head and hat onto the body.
Add a face and hair using felt markers. Or you could get even more creative and use some yarn.
Take a black marker and draw a line centred on the front and back of the black part of the roll to separate the legs.
Glue on a little strip of yellow paper down the side of each leg.
Glue a strip of brown paper around the red for a belt.
Glue a thinner strip of brown around the body.
Glue little strips of black at the neck and shoulders.
Glue red strips to the sides of the tube for arms, adding a brown cuff to the end.
Add sequins for buttons down the front, on the pockets, cuffs, and shoulders as well.
Add a little piece of yellow paper to the front of the belt for a buckle.
You now have your very own Royal Canadian Mounted Police to guard over your home!
We have also made a handprint Canadian flag and some maple cookies, give them a try and see our Canada Day themed page!
If you like using cardboard rolls in crafts, see our DIY cardboard roll airplane and canoe, or check out our cardboard crafts page. And don’t forget to see our Multicultural Activities for Kids page where you’ll find all of our multicultural ideas in one place.
