Toilet Paper Tube Octopus

We are in the midst of preparing for Mia's fourth birthday party "Under the Sea," which means we are making lots of crafty sea creatures. There are several versions of this toilet paper tube octopus posted online. I used this as our starting point. Then I decided to try craft foam suction cups after I saw this and sequins when I found this one. Here is how I made ours.

Materials:

• toilet paper tube
• scissors
• acrylic paint
• foam paintbrush
• newspaper
• wax paper
• markers
• glue
• 2 googly eyes

Optional Materials:

• sequins
• craft foam
• hole punch
• circle stickers
• construction paper

Directions:

1. Using scissors, cut 8 legs in a toilet paper tube. I cut just past the halfway point. It is tricky to get the legs all the same width, but they are approximately 1/2 inch in diameter.
2. Cover work surface with newspaper. Paint the tube inside and out. Allow paint to dry. (I found that wax paper works nicely for a drying surface since the paint doesn't stick to it like it will to newspaper. This is helpful when you are painting both sides of the tube at the same time.)
3. Using a marker (or pencil or your finger), curl up the ends of each of the 8 tentacles.
4. Decorate the octopus as desired. Glue on 2 googly eyes and use a marker to draw a mouth. For the suction cups on the tentacles, you have a few options. We tried foam and sequins, but you could also use stickers or use a hole punch to make circles out of construction paper.

Note: I also tried reversing steps 1 and 2, but I preferred it this way. I thought it was easier to paint inside the tube after cutting rather than before.