Christmas Art: Toilet Paper Roll Nativity Figures

This great idea comes from my dear friend, Asmic, who lives in Moscow. Asmic and I met around 15 years ago in Uzbekistan of all places. Sometimes when you meet someone, you just know you'll always be friends. And even though I'm terrible at keeping up long-distance relationships, our friendship has become even closer over the years. 

Asmic is a stay-at-home Mom to three children who is committed to providing her children with creative, educational play experiences. She has also begun to teach Godly Play in her homeland. She thought up this art project for a workshop on Christmas at a local school in which she shared the Godly Play Advent story.

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Asmic and her three boys.

Here is the tutorial that she's written for us:

Materials:
Toilet paper roll
Colored/scrap booking/ wrapping paper - stripes work best
Light brown, brown paper for faces, black, white, brown, grey - for hair and beards
Silver/gold paper
Crepe paper
Twist for headwear
String for hanging the ornament
Sequins for embellishment (optional)
Stapler
Felt pen
Scissors
Glue

Step 1. Measure out the colored or wrapping paper 16 x 9.5cm.  Cut and glue to the paper roll.

Step 2. Cut out and glue a circle for the face.

Step 3. Cut out the hair or a beard using a template. Ruffle the hair a bit. Glue the hair or beard to the roll.

Step 4. Cut the "headwear" out of crepe paper. Glue the upper edge to the top of the paper roll. Stretch out the lower edge to make it fluffier. 

Step 5. Put a twist/lace around the headwear and tie on the side.

If you want to hang the figure, staple a string on each end on the sides of the roll and tie the ends BEFORE you make the headwear band.

Step 6. Draw a face for your character. Also, cut a staff out of cardboard and staple on the side of the shepherd.

The process is the same for making a Wise Man.

The kids can make crowns of their own design. At our workshop the kids even didn't need a template.

Here are the templates we used. 

Here is a template for an angel:

Asmic's son "worked" on this template before she noticed, and then her husband scanned it with their son's additions. : ) 

Here are some pictures of the children's work:

Thanks, Asmic, for sharing such inspiring work with us!!

Linked to Eco-Kids Tuesday at Like Mama-Like Daughter and Organic Aspirations

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