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100 Things To Do With
Cardboard Tubes
by Dave Morley		 Recycle Symbol

The original goal of this project was to get 100 or more thought starters for crafts and activities you and your Beavers could do with paper tubes. We made it, but if you have any ideas to add please send them along.

To give you some ideas where to get paper (and cardboard) tubes, look for them in toilet paper rolls, paper towels, wax paper, tin foil, fabric stores, and Christmas wrap. Let your parents help you with the collection of this "good" junk. These are not detailed instruction on how to make the projects, but ideas for you to explore.

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  1. Airplane — Use construction paper or fun foam to add wings, tail and wheels.
  2. Axe Handle — One flattened and shaped to make the blade.
  3. Balancing — See how long Beavers can balance a long paper tube on the end of their fingers.
  4. Ball in Tube Game — Attach a bead to a string connected to the tube. Flip bead and try to catch it in the tube.
  5. Ball Launcher — Such as in Jai Alai.
  6. Bar Bell — Let your Beavers be the World's Strongest Man or Woman by adding balloons on the ends of a long tube.
  7. Bases — Support bases for magazine cut-outs.
  8. Baton — OK, but there is alway pretending. Be part of a parade and let your Beavers be drum majors. OR, pass one in a race.
  9. Bats — "Play ball!"
  10. Bell Shaker — Tie bells securely to the middle of four pieces of string, then tie the string securely to an empty paper towel tube.
  11. Bird — Add construction wings, beak and tail, and tooth pick legs. Add sturdy wings to make a glider.
  12. Bird Feeder — Skewers; holes in tube; suet or feed.
  13. Binoculars — In a make believe world.
  14. Bowling Pins
  15. Bridge Supports — Various types of bridges.
  16. Bubble Blower — Try paper tubes as a bubble blower. It's a different challenge.
  17. Butterfly — Body, and you may consider splitting them for the wings.
  18. Cabin — Rather than an individual project, this is a Colony project to use those bags tubes you collected as good junk.
  19. Campfire — Using long tubes build a teepee fire.
  20. Candle — Cap off one end and use the tube as a mold. Add crushed ice around the wick down middle. Pour in melted wax.
  21. Candle — Use construction paper or fun foam to make the flame.
  22. Canoe — Cut lengthwise and shape the ends. Staple the ends and add craft stick seat(s) to keep the sides apart.
  23. Cardboard Stock — Use the tubes not only for their size, shape and structure. Cut the lengthwise, flatten and use the material.
  24. Castle — Corner turrets or towers.
  25. Caterpillar or Worm — Cut into shorter lengths and join top and bottom with string or yarn.
  26. Chains — Have Beavers decorate toilet paper tubes with markers. When they've finished, flatten the tubes and cut a series of slits, alternating along the length of the tube, each just inside a centimetre of the opposite side. Let the Beavers stretch out their tubes by pulling the ends.
  27. Chimes — Tie several lengths of string around a cardboard tube, tied about an inch apart. Tie nails, shells, old tableware, or a combination at the ends of the string. Glue all the knots in place.
  28. Christmas Wreath — Cut in shorter length, colour green, and glue on a paper plate.
  29. Clubs — Fun battles with Christmas wrap tubes.
  30. Clubs — As in golf clubs.
  31. Cob of Corn
  32. Cord Organizer — To store extension cords so they won't get tangled, keep folding cord in halves until about 20 cm. long. Insert the length up the tube and mark the cord length on the outside.
  33. Course Markers — For races or obstacle course.
  34. Creative Clipping — Cut tubes into 5 cm. lengths. Provide Beavers with plenty of clothes pins or paper clips. Encourage them to clip the tubes together into any shape they want.
  35. Dam — Literally, as a group project, "Build the Dam" during a Colony meeting.
  36. Dinosaur Bones — Look for them as part of a game, or as a craft.
  37. Elephant Trunk
  38. Faces — Like Mr. Potato Head. Cover in your favourite construction paper colour or wrapping paper. Add facial features either from cut-outs, fun foam, buttons, pom-poms, fabric, seeds, beads, grasses, whatever.
  39. Fire Starter — Fill tube with dried leaves. Wrap in newspaper, 4 inches longer than roll. Twist ends of roll. Outer wrap of decorative paper make them a nice accessory for the fire place. OR, cover one end and fill with a combination wax and sawdust mixture.
  40. Fishing — Add a hook to the fishing rod and a toothpick in the mouth of the fish (fun foam fins and tail).
  41. Flowers — As the stem or petals (cut roll lengthwise then to desired width of petal. Shape and colour. Glue centers of petal strips onto cardboard circle. Flower centre of button or pom-poms).
  42. Game — The key prop in a form of charades where Beavers act out what sport they are playing such as baseball, hockey, fishing.
  43. Garden Tools — Handles for rake, shovel and spade.
  44. Giraffe — An animal project that's perfect for cardboard tubes.
  45. Guitar — As the finger board.
  46. Hat — Create a Party hat by decorating the outside of the paper tube. Cut down vertically on the tube creating stems. Decorate the ends of the stems with flowers, buttons, bells, whatever is your fancy. Create a chin strap with elastic or string. OR, make a clown top hat.
  47. Helicopter — As body. Split another tube lengthwise and make into blades.
  48. Hobby Horse — Just add a head and mane.
  49. Hoop Game — A variation where you attach a string to a stick and cut a ring from a tube and attach to the string. Objective is to flip ring over the stick.
  50. Javelin Throw — A mini Olympics event.
  51. Kaleidoscope
  52. Kazoo — Attach wax paper to one end with an elastic band. Make a hole through opposite end, about 2 cm. from the end.
  53. Kinara — A seven-branch candlestick used during Kwanza.
  54. Knitting Needle Holder
  55. Legs — Of imaginative creatures.
  56. Light House
  57. Lincoln Logs — Notch the ends of larger tubes and show your Beavers how they can build with them.
  58. Loom — From 1001 Teaching Props. Make a simple cardboard tube loom. Cut slits in the ends of the cardboard. Run yarn lengthwise between the slits (inside and out) to create a warp. Then, let the Beaver weave yarn over and under the warp around the tube.
  59. Magic Wand
  60. Mailbox — As the post, with a plastic bottle as the box.
  61. Marble Maze — Attach them end-to-end and lay out your course. Use whole tubes or cut lengthwise.
  62. Megaphone — Kids love it and parents hate it.
  63. Message Tote Necklace — Make sure that message, permission form or newsletter gets home.
  64. Microphone — In the "Let's Pretend" world.
  65. Miniature Golf — Use tubes to form your obstacles.
  66. Mobile — Add light weight handing thingies such as paper Halloween ghosts, bats, skulls and moon face.
  67. Musical Shaker — Use corn, dried bean, peas, rice, small stones or sand for the sound you want.
  68. Napkin Rings — Cut to the length you want and decorate.
  69. New Year's Horn — From Fun At The Pond — you need a paper towel tube, wax paper, poster paint, a rubber band and decorating materials. Paint the tube and let dry. Cut a circular piece of wax paper large enough to fold over one end of the tube and fasten in place with a rubber band. Wrap a piece of masking tape around the edge of the open end. Punch five holes about 2 cm. apart down one side of the tube. Decorate.
  70. Nozzle — At the end of a fire hose or gas pump line.
  71. Olympic Torch — The tube as the torch body, add the flame, and embellish with crepe paper streamers.
  72. Paint Circles — Dip the ends in paint and gently press on paper.
  73. Parachute Weight — Let Beavers decorate as they wish.
  74. Party Favours — Load with small appropriate gift, cover with wrapping paper and tie ends with a ribbon.
  75. Party Poppers — Load with small prizes and the "popper", wrap in tissue paper, tie the ends with ribbon, and decorate with stickers.
  76. Pencil Holder
  77. Periscope — Add small mirrors at the end and you can make this work.
  78. Picture Frames — One decorated tube on each side of a craft stick frame.
  79. Pumpkin — Cover with orange construction paper and add black cut out facial features.
  80. Puppet — The tube is the finger(s) puppet: human (vertical) or animal (horizontal).
  81. Puppet — As the nose and ears on larger, cardboard box puppets.
  82. Puppet — As body and limbs, and as the string control for a marionette.
  83. Puppet — As in Peek-a-Boo or Pop-Up Puppets.
  84. Quiver — For crayons, pencils, straws, or even an umbrella.
  85. Race Track — For Hot Wheels: cut tubes in half and join end-to-end to lay out your course.
  86. Raft Logs
  87. Rain Stick
  88. Recorder — Poke holes near one end of a cardboard tube. Let the Beaver hum through the tube, covering and uncovering the holes to vary the tone.
  89. Ring Necklace — Flatten; make cuts (about 2/3 of the diameter) alternating on each side the length of the tube.
  90. Ring Toss
  91. Robots — Tubes of various lengths and diameters for the parts of the body.
  92. Rocket Ships
  93. Rolling Design — Dip yarn or string into a bowl of glue. Beavers wrap the glue-covered yarn around short cardboard tube any way they want. When it dries, let the children roll their design over a paint pad, then over pieces of construction paper.
  94. Scroll — For decoration, add to the top and bottle for an important-looking piece of paper.
  95. Sculptures
  96. Secret Message Carrier
  97. Sidewalk Chalk — Outdoor craft that can be fun. Click here for the recipe.
  98. Silo — Of a barn.
  99. Smoke Funnels — Smokestacks for the Titanic.
  100. Snack Tubes — Put small amounts of trail mix, cereal, dried fruit, pretzels or other snack mix in sealable plastic bag inside a tube. Decorate the tube with tissue paper and tie with ribbons.
  101. Star Viewer — Here's a miniature planetarium. Secure a circle of black construction paper to one end of a cardboard tube. Use a needle to punch a constellation pattern in the construction paper. To use the viewer, a Beaver holds the view up to the light and looks through the open end.
  102. Stop Light — As the post, using an egg carton as the lights.
  103. Storing Lace, Trim or Yarn — Wrap them around empty tissue tube. It keeps them untangled and it makes it easier to dispense.
  104. String-Climbing Critters — From Family Fun Crafts:  let Beavers create their own critter on a paper plate. Cut out the drawing and colour the flip side. Next, attach a 2 cm. length of drinking straw to the side arms of the critters. Attach a meter of string to the ends of paper tubes and thread the string through the straws. Add a bead at the end of each string.
  105. Stunt — Hold the tube out from one eye with a book at tube length from the other. Move the book away from the eye and the book appears to have a hole in it.
  106. Swords — Or lances for jousting.
  107. Talking Tube — Decorated tube. Use to control talking — only the Beaver who holds the tube may talk.
  108. Telephone — Add an egg carton ear and mouth piece.
  109. Telescope
  110. Threading Game — How many paper tubes can a Beaver thread on a rope in a minute?
  111. Time Capsule — Make at the beginning of the year and open at the end.
  112. Toothpaste and Toothbrush Holder
  113. Torches — For an Olympic opening or campfires.
  114. Totem Pole — Show Beavers an example, but them create their own using fun foam pieces.
  115. Tower — Four rolls standing vertically capped with a piece of cardboard. Add another floor in the same manner and keep building as far as your Colony can.
  116. Tree Trunks — Deciduous, coniferous and palm.
  117. Tube Streamers — Attach streamer to the ends of cardboard paper towel tubes. Tap two together for rhythm sticks or wave them around. Also good as marching batons.
  118. Village People — Such as pilgrims for Thanksgiving.
  119. Weather Vane — Dowel through one end, loose enough to move freely. Rectangular cutouts on either side of dowel for air flow.
  120. Wheels — Tubes worked for the Flintstones.
  121. Wind Mill — As both the building and the sails.
  122. Windsock — This is a small version — decorate the tube with construction paper, wrapping paper or stickers. Add long crepe paper streamers to the bottom. Attach four lengths of string to the top.

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Thanks to Dan "Rusty" Prowse and Christine Morley-Wong for their contributions to this collection.

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Last updated: November 28, 1999
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