Paper Roll Alphabet

Have I mentioned we love a good collaborative family project? This one is no exception. It combines creativity, a bit of engineering, art, design, letter recognition and so on. That's may seem like a lot for a single project. However the good news is, all of the value in this collaborative piece is built in. Working through the project together promotes these concepts as well as good ole family bonding.

Will you try a collaborative project with your family sometime? Let me know how it goes!

Gather:

*Six or so toilet rolls

*Scissors

*Cereal box

*Acrylic paint

*Paint brushes

*Hot glue gun/glue

Create:

1. Flatten the toilet rolls. Cut them into strips.

2. Cut the cereal box using either the front or back, removing the "hinged pieces". Paint white.

3. Begin creating the letters from the toilet roll strips. Use the natural curve of the roll to create the various letters. Cut smaller strips for perpendicular pieces like the top of the "T". To adjoin the junction of letters, fold over a tiny piece of the roll to form a tab for glue. Apply hot glue to the tab and place pieces together. To create the "R" and the "P", simply cut the roll and round out the top, again creating a tab to hold glue.

For the "Q" we cut a slit in both the rounded portion and the intersection portion and slid them together. Part of the fun of this project is thinking through exactly how to create the letters using the paper roll. Making the letters look funky is fun! As with all of our projects, perfections is not the goal. Rather create and learn through the process all the while having bonding family time.

4. After the letters are complete, paint! You could spray paint them or dip them into paint. You could splatter paint them or use watercolors. The potential for adding color is a big one, so get creative here!

5. Once the letters have dried, glue them to the cereal box backing.