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Toilet Paper Tube Octopus

Make your own silly octopus friend from a toilet paper tube! Curl the tentacles and paint it your favorite color to make it your own, Then, give it googly eyes and draw a big smile to watch your octopus come to life! The best part? You can do this whole craft by yourself! Cut, glue, draw, and play. When you're done, your octopus is ready for underwater adventures. Make it swim, wiggle its arms, or create a whole ocean family! You'll love this if: You like ocean animals, you want to make something you can play with right away, or you love crafts you can do all on your own What you'll learn: Cutting skills, following steps, being creative, and turning recycled stuff into awesome toys.

30-45 minutes Ages 3-10 5 steps may need help

About This Project

A 30–45 minutes craft for ages 3–10, using supplies you likely already have — Scissors, Q-Tips, and Googly Eyes.

GlueStick supports kids from setup to cleanup. After they choose a project, we guide them through gathering the supplies, making it, and cleaning up when they're done. We'll even help them share it safely with trusted family and friends.

Ad-free and kid-safe library — designed by a mom who wants kids to explore and create independently.

Project Tags

zoo beach recycled materials octopus toy store fine motor skills imaginative play recycling scissor skills indoor solo project ocean sea creatures summer evergreen

1
Find Supplies

Do you have everything you need?

Create a free GlueStick account to track supplies and see if you have what you need at a glance. Leave your kids tips about where supplies are stored in your household so they can set up and clean up their creative spaces independently.

00:00

Scissors
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Q-Tips
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(Optional) Googly Eyes
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(Optional) White Glue
Unknown cupboard quantity You have: unknown

Paint
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(Optional) Markers
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Toilet Paper Rolls
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Paint Brushes
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2
Make Toilet Paper Tube Octopus

Messy Mode

Make your first two cuts

To make the tentacles, you'll start by making two cuts in your toilet paper tube. To make the first cut, start from the bottom edge and cut a straight line about halfway up the length of your cardboard tube. Make the second cut on the exact opposite side in the same way. Try to keep them as close to the same length as you can.

Cut into four tentacles

The next step in making your tentacles is to make two more cuts just like the first two. These next two cuts should be halfway between your first two cuts, one on each side. Now, your octopus should have four, fat tentacles.

Finish cutting the tentacles

To finish cutting your tentacles, cut each of your four fat tentacle pieces in half the long way, starting at the bottom edge and cutting to the same height as the first four. Now your octopus has eight legs!

Curl the tentacles

Curl each of the tentacles around your paint brush. This will make them curl up and look more like real octopus tentacles!

Repeat for all eight tentacles

Curl all eight tentacles so they look like this picture.

Paint the octopus

Protect your work surface by laying down newspaper, an old paper bag, or using a recled plastic dish to paint in. Grab your favorite paint color and paint the octopus's body and the top of its tentacles.

Paint the bottom of the tentacles

To paint the bottom of your tentacles, flip the octopus upside down.

Give your octopus suckers

Octopus tentacles are covered in suckers, which it uses for grabbing, moving, and sensing the environment. We'll paint our suckers with a Q-Tip! Once your octopus tentacle bottoms are dry, dip a q-tip in a different color paint. Dab it on your tentacles to make the suckers.

Paint suckers on all the tentacles

Use the q-tip to paint suckers on every tentacle. Let it dry.

Make the face

Draw or paint on eyes, or glue on googly eyes like we did! Use a marker or paint to draw a mouth. Will you make a silly octopus or a serious one? You could also decorate your octopus with stripes, spots, or other fun patterns, just like a real octopus has when they're trying to blend in to their surroundings or mimic another sea creature.

Your creative buddy says:

"Let's stick together and make this one!"

Step 1: Make your first two cuts

To make the tentacles, you'll start by making two cuts in your toilet paper tube. To make the first cut, start from the bottom edge and cut a straight line about halfway up the length of your cardboard tube. Make the second cut on the exact opposite side in the same way. Try to keep them as close to the same length as you can.

Step 2: Cut into four tentacles

The next step in making your tentacles is to make two more cuts just like the first two. These next two cuts should be halfway between your first two cuts, one on each side. Now, your octopus should have four, fat tentacles.

Step 3: Finish cutting the tentacles

To finish cutting your tentacles, cut each of your four fat tentacle pieces in half the long way, starting at the bottom edge and cutting to the same height as the first four. Now your octopus has eight legs!

Step 4: Curl the tentacles

Curl each of the tentacles around your paint brush. This will make them curl up and look more like real octopus tentacles!

Step 5: Repeat for all eight tentacles

Curl all eight tentacles so they look like this picture.

Step 6: Paint the octopus

May need grown-up help

Protect your work surface by laying down newspaper, an old paper bag, or using a recled plastic dish to paint in. Grab your favorite paint color and paint the octopus's body and the top of its tentacles.

Step 7: Paint the bottom of the tentacles

May need grown-up help

To paint the bottom of your tentacles, flip the octopus upside down.

Step 8: Give your octopus suckers

May need grown-up help

Octopus tentacles are covered in suckers, which it uses for grabbing, moving, and sensing the environment. We'll paint our suckers with a Q-Tip! Once your octopus tentacle bottoms are dry, dip a q-tip in a different color paint. Dab it on your tentacles to make the suckers.

Step 9: Paint suckers on all the tentacles

May need grown-up help

Use the q-tip to paint suckers on every tentacle. Let it dry.

Step 10: Make the face

May need grown-up help

Draw or paint on eyes, or glue on googly eyes like we did! Use a marker or paint to draw a mouth. Will you make a silly octopus or a serious one? You could also decorate your octopus with stripes, spots, or other fun patterns, just like a real octopus has when they're trying to blend in to their surroundings or mimic another sea creature.
3
Clean up
Put things away so your space is tidy for next time.
Tidy up our space

Pick up anything that fell on the floor.

Wipe up any spills on the table.

Put your completed project somewhere safe!

Throw away all your trash and recycling.
Put away our supplies

Check off each supply when it is put away — and any clean-up tips underneath are done too. You might find a fun surprise!

Put away q-tips. Where they belong:

Put away googly eyes. Where they belong:

Put away white glue. Where they belong:

— Don't forget! Close glue lids.

Put away paint. Where they belong:

— Don't forget! Close all paint lids tightly.

Put away markers. Where they belong:

— Don't forget! Close all marker caps tightly.

Put away toilet paper rolls. Where they belong:

Put away scissors. Where they belong:

Put away paint brush. Where they belong:

— Don't forget! Rinse all the paint out of your paint brushes.
Update what we have left

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4
Save

Your creative buddy says:

"Way to stick with it!"

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About the Author

GlueStick

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More projects by this author

Toilet Paper Tube Octopus

About This Project

Project Tags

Find Supplies

Make Toilet Paper Tube Octopus

Step 1: Make your first two cuts

Step 2: Cut into four tentacles

Step 3: Finish cutting the tentacles

Step 4: Curl the tentacles

Step 5: Repeat for all eight tentacles

Step 6: Paint the octopus

Step 7: Paint the bottom of the tentacles

Step 8: Give your octopus suckers

Step 9: Paint suckers on all the tentacles

Step 10: Make the face

Clean up

Tidy up our space

Put away our supplies

Update what we have left

Save

More projects you might like

Use what’s already at home

About the Author

GlueStick