Changing Faces - Toilet Roll Dolls

I made these dolls to extend our learning about emotions and under estimated how much the girls would love them. I'm glad I made three or else we may have had a sibling war on our hands!
They would be a great project to make with the kids but we are a bit time poor at the moment with all of Bubble's appointments so I put them together over the course of a few nights. There is no end to the creative and play possibilities.
They look a bit complicated to make, but I assure you they were a piece of cake! :-)

WE USED:

* paper
* scissors
* paint
* markers/textas
* strong craft glue
* sheet of thick card (we used the side from a cardboard box)
* two sizes of cardboard tube (we used toilet paper rolls and a wrapper paper roll).
If you can't find a smaller size tube that fits inside your toilet rolls you can just make some by rolling and taping thick flat card.

With the larger size rolls (the toilet rolls) I made a few 'dolls'. Bubble is very interested in space and Squeak loves getting about in her rain gear (in 25'c weather :-D) so I made an astronaut and wet weather character as well as a little girl. You could make anything though, even animals!

They were very simple to do - first cut a little window at about the height and size of your characters face.

Then decorate however you like. I painted our rolls and then used markers to add the details after it was dry. You could use cut out pictures from magazines or make clothes from fabric/felt - anything at all really!

I gave the little wet weather character an umbrella for extra effect and play value.

Once your dolls are made you can make the face inserts.
Cut your smaller size rolls to be the same height as your toilet rolls (our wrapping paper roll was one long tube so I took to it with a hacksaw).
Then cut discs from your cardboard sheet and glue the tubes securely in the centre.
Cut four or more small circles of paper (or you could use dot labels) and draw a simple face showing a different emotion on each one. I made a happy, sad, surprised and angry face on each of ours.
Another idea would be to take photos of your child pulling faces and use those instead of drawing them.
Glue the faces around the inner tube making sure they are at the same level as the 'face windows' cut into the toilet roll characters (a simple way to do this is to slip the toilet roll over the insert and use a pencil to trace the window straight onto the inner tube. You can then use this as a guide to glue the face on).

Now you just slide your toilet roll dolls over the top of the emotion inserts and you are ready to play! All your child has to do is spin the cardboard disc at the base to change the expression on the dolls face.

Bubble changing her astronaut from sad to happy :-)

These have been played with endlessly in many many different ways. The ability to change the expressions on the dolls faces has led to so much imaginative play and lots of discussion about what might make them feel sad/happy/angry/surprised.

“Come over to play at the Childhood 101 We Play link up”