All the wrapping may now be over. If so, you are probably knee deep in wrapping paper rolls – those long brown cardboard tubes that could also be found inside a roll of toilet paper if you ever happen to find yourself in the bathroom of a Giant’s castle.
These tubes are great fun for kids of any age. The good times will surely last longer than the paper once wrapped around them! So don’t throw them away just yet. Allow me to relay some good, cheap and creative ways to use these tubes.
The most obvious use of these rolls is as toy swords. When I was a young Star Wars fan, a single tube would allow me to become Luke Skywalker battling my shadow in my bedroom. I still cannot see one lying on the floor without bending down to pick it up and wield it like a space-traveling hero. Ok, I am revealing too much now. Ahem, moving on…
Tubes can also be used to start an indoor medieval jousting competition, sans the horses. Combine these tubes with shields made from leftover gift boxes and your family can institute it’s own Renaissance Fair in your home.
Additional wrapping paper role uses include telescopes to peer up into the night sky or periscopes in a pretend submarine. Make a fort or pretend boat with sofa cushions and/or pillows and blankets. Then stick a tube or two out of the top and side as a secret lookout.
If you have numerous tubes to provide to your kids they can use them to spell some simple words or even their name on the floor.
One final use of these tubes is to have your kids speak into them as if they are magical voice changing megaphones. They will be hysterical as they call out to you and each other through the skinny three-foot tubes and hear the way their voice sounds.
All these are fun ideas that involve no alterations of the cardboard paper roles at all. If you wanted to get adventurous you could start making holes, cutting, gluing and taping to make something extraordinary. That sounds like a crafty post for another day!
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