Fall Garland Craft from Toilet Paper Rolls

When you think of autumn, what is the first word that comes to mind? If you live somewhere that has deciduous trees, chances are you said “color”. When we see a palate of oranges, reds, golds and browns, we can’t help but think of autumn. Oh, the sites, smells, and weather. A bit of Heaven on Earth! Our Fall Garland, made from recycled toilet paper and paper towel tubes, is extremely simple to make, yet brings all the gorgeous autumn colors indoors. The wee ones will love making this… but so will you! Unlike paper chains, which can be frustrating to glue together and usually have a one time use, this garland is easier to make, and in keeping with using recycled materials, this can be used over and over again!

Fall Garland Craft Materials

• recycled toilet paper and paper towel rolls
• paint – acrylic or tempera paint
• twine
• tape
• scissors
• 1 hole paper punch
• paint brushes

Fall Garland Craft Directions

Cut toilet paper tubes into 3 or 4 pieces. For variety, cut some 3 and some 4.

Paint inside and outside of toilet paper tubes sections in a variety of autumn colors. You want to have your Fall Garland look like a collection of autumn leaves! Allow to dry.

Cut a piece of twine for stringing. To do this, decide on how long you want your fall garland to be. We found that cutting the twine 2 – 3 times longer than the space you want your fall garland to span works depending on how much swag you want. Note: If children are going to be stringing the tubes, cut your twine into 1 yard sections and tie sections together after the sections have been strung. Working with lengths longer than this will be difficult for young children to handle.

Using a 1 hole paper punch, punch 2 holes in each paper tube section. The holes should be placed on the same side of the tube section, not across the tube from one another.

Tie a double knot in the end of one end of the twine to prevent it from unraveling.

On the end of the twine that will be used for stringing, cover the end of the twine with tape. Cut the end of the tape on an angle creating a point.

To string, bring twine through a hole from inside the tube section and bring it out on top of the tube.

Let the twine travel over the tube, then string the twine through the 2nd hole going from the top of the tube to the inside.

At the first hole, leave an 18 inch tail of twine for hanging the garland and knot the twine around the first hole. This will stop the tube sections from sliding off.

Continue stringing the tube sections until you reach the desired length of your fall garland. Randomly string painted sections and leave a little space between each tube piece. When you add your last tube piece, tie off in the last hole. Leave an 18 inch tail of twine and knot the end of the tail.

Your fall garland is now ready to use for autumn or Halloween decorating!

You can make your own autumn wooden trees and old world gnomes, too!