Paper Towel Roll Flower Craft | How We Keep Our Art Center Clean
Hooray! It’s officially summer! And summertime for us means jam packed days of kid activities mixed in with lazy days at the pool. Both of my kids are in preschool during the school year, but during the summer months we still like to stay busy. In between summer camps and swim lessons, I try to carve out time for learning activities and crafting. When my sisters & I were younger, my mom always spent time doing arts & crafts with us during the summer months. I have such fond memories of spending this time with my mom and I love carrying over that tradition with my own kids today.
This past week I realized it had been a few weeks since we last did a craft. So, I planned out a fun summer themed craft for the kids and I to do together on Saturday afternoon while Daddy was outside cutting the grass. With our shopping list in hand, the kids and I headed to Walmart to pick up some crafting + cleaning supplies. We have family coming into town for the long holiday weekend, so I wanted to stock up on Clorox Clean-Up Spray. While I was there, I remembered I needed to pick up more paper towels, too. I don’t know about you, but I feel like we go through a roll every two days now that the kids are home on summer break. Hello, summertime messes! Our favorite paper towel brand is Viva. We’ve been using them for years, and I love how sturdy and absorbent they are. A little goes a long way!
After a successful shopping trip, we headed home to get started on our craft project. The kids ate their lunch while I set up everything we needed. Luckily, this is a pretty simple craft, so you may actually have most of this on hand already.
Supplies Needed
Viva Paper Towel Rolls
Finger Paint + Brushes + Rinse cup
Cardstock
Scissors
Fun Straws
School Glue or Hot Glue Gun
Twine or Ribbon (optional)
How-To
First, you’ll need to cut your Viva paper towel roll in half. Turning it into a pirate spy glass is optional π
Next comes the fun part – painting! Have your child paint their paper towel roll “vase” in their favorite colors.
While you’re waiting for your vase to dry, you can start working on the hand print flowers.
We chose to make two flowers each – one of each hand. I can never get enough of these sweet hand print crafts!
After everything was dry, I cut out each hand print and drew a small yellow heart as the center of the “flower”. I then used my hot glue gun to attach the paper straws as “stems”. That’s it! Your flowers are now ready to be put inside their vases.
I finished each vase off with some pink twine. And don’t worry about making the “vase” perfect. It’s about letting the kids create their own unique piece of artwork. And if your kiddos are anything like mine, they will likely end up mixing all of the colors together anyways!
Now it was time to clean up! When it comes to cleaning up craft messes, you can never have enough paper towels. Luckily, all you need is one simple & effective cleaner, Clorox Clean-Up Spray. I always try to include my kids in the clean-up process, too. I want to teach them that it is fun to be creative and not to be afraid of making a mess – as long as they know to clean up afterwards. I was pleasantly surprised that all of this mess only took a couple of sprays of Clorox Clean-up + only 3 sheets of Viva Paper Towels. Not bad, right?!
{Time Saving Mom Hack} As I mentioned earlier, our schedule tends to be quite busy during the summer months, so making time for grocery shopping can sometimes be challenging. Especially with a 4 and 2 year old in tow. That’s why I like to use Walmart’s grocery pickup. You can order fresh groceries online and enjoy the same in-store savings with free pickup. Walmart will even load your car for you! Click here to see if it’s available in your area.
And don’t forget to use these Ibotta rebates to save on your purchase of Clorox Clean-Up Spray and Viva Paper Towels at Walmart.
What craft activities are you loving this summer? How do you get your kids involved with cleaning up?
xo,
Sumer
49 Comments
Divya
Oh my gosh, this is so stinking cute. I love the idea of using recyclables! It teaches kids about how to be green at a young age! And also to see the beauty in literally everything.
Sumer
Totally agree, Divya! I definitely need to work that lesson into our next paper towel roll craft. Thanks for reading!
Theresa
This is adorable! My children would love to make this over the summer.
Emily @ Pizza & Pull-ups
These are adorable, I will have to make them with my kiddos.
Sumer
Thank you, Emily!
Karin
This sure looks like a fun craft activity with many different levels of learning for the kids! Thank you for sharing this post.
Sumer
Thanks so much, Karin!
Davi
These are so cute! And I love how you display their artwork on the clothes pins! My 16-month-old is obsessed with crayons and we are working through the “we don’t color on the walls” part of that lol. These cleaning tips will be useful.
Sumer
Thanks so much, Davi! Oh yes, the inevitable coloring-on-the-wall phase. My 2 year old went through that when she was that age. At least she is expressing her creativity, right?! π
Laura Burton
These are adorable! I love using up paper towel rolls for crafts. I also love that Clorox spray – we are big time users of their urine one because of the boys lol! I wish that our Walmart had the grocery pick up – I can’t wait until they get it!
Sumer
Oh, the Walmart pick up is AWESOME! Definitely try it out when they offer it near you!
Keri
These are adorable! We are going to have to try them! I love finding crafts where I can reuse my items.
Sumer
Same here! And thanks for reading, Keri!
Kristen Jones
This is such a cute idea! I’m a nanny for several kiddos, and I definitely want to try this with the younger ones!
Sumer
Thanks, Kristen! I bet they would love it. I hope you try it with them!
Amanda
This is such an incredibly cute idea, and I love teaching our children how to turn ‘trash’ into treasure! AND, I could not live without my Viva paper towels and Clorox Clean Up Spray!
Sumer
Yes! Totally agree! Thanks for reading, Amanda!
Rachel Ritlop
Omg what a cute creative little DIY!
Kristi
Such a cute craft! Viva are my fav paper towels.
Sumer
Mine too! I seriously don’t buy anything else other than Viva!
Alexandra
These are so cute!! Can’t wait to try with my son! π
Sumer
Thanks, Alexandra! Definitely give it a try!
Julie Hood
Looks like they had a blast with this craft! What a creative idea! π
Sumer
Thanks so much, Julie! They did!
Andrea
What a lovely way to keep things clean – and very creative, too!
Sumer
Thanks, Andrea!
Ryan @ The Blessed Mess
This is such a cute idea! I need to get some paint and do this with Liam!
Sumer
Thanks so much, Ryan! I hope Liam enjoys it! π
Heather
I absolutely love this! We are adding this craft project to our summer wish list! Viva paper towels really are the best!
Sumer
So glad to hear that! And yes, they are the best paper towels!
Nancy
My daughter would love to make this!
Lexi
That is such a cute craft! I’m saving that to do in our homeschool art time this upcoming year. I’m going to have my oldest child help my preschooler do it. So fun!
Sumer
Awesome! Thanks, Lexi!
Stefanie
Your little ones are so adorable and that’s such a cute craft! XOXO
Sumer
Thanks, Stefanie!
Rachel
This is absolutely BRILLIANT! Love LOVE LOVE it!
Sumer
Thanks so much, Rachel!
Corey | The Nostalgia Diaries
These look like so much fun! My daughter loves crafting with paper towel rolls!
Sumer
Us too! So many uses for them!
Latasha A Peterson
This is so creative! π
This will be such a FUN activity for my son when he gets older! I love it.
Amber Battishill
This is so adorable! I love finding new fun and easy craft ideas to do with my kids! Thanks for sharing!
Sumer
Thanks so much, Amber!
Kristen
How cute! And what a clean, bright room! Nicely done.
Sumer
Thanks so much, Kristen!
Kristen
Such a cute craft!! Love this idea, my girls would have so much fun doing it!
Sumer
Thank you! π
Jaclyn Quinones
These are really cute! We just made toilet paper roll confetti poppers and have some left over! Now we can make these.
Sumer
That’s such a cute idea! I love that!
April
So creative….love the ideas