My daughter had a school assignment to make a Pilgrim or Native American out of a toilet paper tube this week, so I turned it into a weekend craft with a friend's kids I was babysitting.
I found these adorable Thanksgiving people via an internet search and made a few myself to share with you and for the kids to use as examples. After making the figures, the kids came up with an idea to make a Thanksgiving play, which kept them entertained for hours.
You can also make these to use as decorations for your Thanksgiving table.
What You Need:
- Toilet paper tubes
- Construction paper (I used black, brown, yellow, tan, and white)
- Scissors
- Glue
- Colored markers
- Googly eyes (optional)
What you do:
- Cover the top third of the tube with neutral-colored construction paper for the figures' heads/faces using glue.
- Cover the rest of the tube with construction paper for your characters' clothes. I used brown for the Native American and black for the Pilgrims. Glue in place and allow to dry.
- Meanwhile, cut a yellow or black piece of paper for the hair. It should cover all the way around the top part of the tube, leaving the face area uncovered. You can choose the length and color of the hair and can even cut out bangs. Cut fringe along the bottom of the paper to look like strands of hair (you can roll around a pencil to curl the bottoms if you'd like). Glue hair in place.
- Cut out and glue on accessories to decorate the figures, such as collars for the Pilgrims, an apron for the girl, and a headband and feathers for the Native American. My daughter enjoyed making a plate of corn and a turkey for the figures to carry.
- Use colored markers to draw on the face and decorations, and use googly eyes if desired.
- The Pilgrim girl's bonnet was made out of a 2" by 5" piece of white paper, wrapped around the top of the tube, overlapping and glued to the back. The Pilgrim boy's hat is made of two pieces: a circle larger than the circumference of the tube and a rectangle piece rolled into a tube shape, with slits cut on the bottom and folded in to glue to the center of the circle. I then distributed school glue along the top edge of the tube to glue the hat onto the figure and added the band and buckle for decorations.
