Blogger / 17 September, 2023 / Nanny Anita

Nanny Anita’s Loo Roll Unicorn Marionette

YC has taken it upon herself to bring me every finished loo roll that she finds, as a result have an incredible large collection of them. Which means I have the chance to come up with lots of new crafts to use them up. Now that both YC and EC are older their school pick ups, homework, and after school activities leaves us little time to do longer crafts.  this week we got the chance to make a loo roll unicorn marionette! It is a pretty in depth craft and took almost 2 hours to do! Although I am sure the only reason it took that long was because we were watching Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire at the same time.

Make sure you follow my junk modelling board on Pinterest for more ideas, and don’t forget to save the pin for later.

You will need:

• 2x loo rolls
• String/wool
• Embroidery thread (optional)
• Scissors
• Paint
• Paint brush
• Beads (optional)
• Straw (optional)
• Glue gun*
• Tape

There are parts of making a loo roll unicorn marionette that is slightly tricky and may require adult help, but saying that it is good for their fine motor skills. There were only two things I actually helped YC do, she managed the rest perfectly well by herself. EC decided that he didn’t want to make a loo roll unicorn marionette, it was too girly for him, so he used his loo rolls to make a binoculars (which I am sure I will put in a post).

How to make a loo roll unicorn marionette

First start by painting your loo rolls, if you paint thin coats of paint it should dry really quickly.

Once it has dried use some scissors to make 4 holes one the underneath of one of the loo rolls. These are for the legs. Make two more holes on the topside of this loo roll. One will be for the tail and the string to hold the marionette up. The other is for the neck. On the other loo roll you will need to make two holes. One on the underside for the neck and the other one above it for the other marionette string.

Cut 4 lengths of wool/string for the legs. If you have any beads then you can thread as many as you like on. We only did a couple to make the hooves. However you may want to fill the whole piece of string. If you don’t have any beads then just tie a big knot at the end of the legs so that they will hang down properly.

Next thread them through the 4 holes  you made on the base of the loo roll. Use tape to secure them into place.
Cut another length for the neck and and thread that one through one of the holes you made at the top. Thread the other end in the other loo roll.

Draw your face onto your unicorn.

For the tail and mane cut some thread. Embroidery thread works really nicely here, but if you don’t have any then wool or string will work just fine.To finish the tail bundle it together and thread it all through the hole you made for the tail. Tie it off with a big knot to keep it in place.

Next cut a long length of string, this is going to be for controlling the loo roll unicorn marionette. Thread one end of it through the same hole that the tail went through. I secured this one by tying it around the tail. This was really the only part I did for YC. Attach insert the other end of the string into the hole at the top of the head that you made. Secure it in place with tape.Once that is all in place you can tie the mane to the string that comes out of the top of the unicorns head.

The final thing that you will need to make is the horn of the unicorn. *There are many ways that you could make the horn so you don’t need to have a glue gun. I original thought about using a toothpick with beads on, but our beads didn’t fit onto it.

In the end I covered part of a toothpick with hot glue and mouldering it with my fingers. Please note that if you do this then it posses a burn risk, so an adult will need to do this. I found the best way to mould it without burning my fingers and having the glue stick to me, was to slightly wet my fingers before touching the glue. I built layer upon layer of glue to get the desired horn. When it had completely cooled I painted them in gold paint before attaching them to the head of the unicorn. Trim the excess toothpick and then stick it into the hole that you put the marionette string. Use the hot glue gun to secure it into place.

You have now hopefully completed your loo roll unicorn marionette! And if you managed to stay with me and read all those instructions, then yay you. It one of the most involved crafts that we have done in a while, but YC is now old enough that we can do these longer crafts.

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