Using cardboard tubes from paper towels or bathroom tissue, you can make this fun and bright family of bunny rabbits with your kids! A fun and easy recycled kid’s craft!
Cardboard Tube Bunny Rabbit Family
Ahh bunnies! They’re so cute, and cuddly, and colorful… ? Well, this cardboard tube bunny rabbit family is anyway. These bunnies don’t have to be an exclusive Easter craft but their pretty colors remind me of jelly beans!
This cardboard tube bunny rabbit family is such a cute way to reuse cardboard tubes. I have a lot more cardboard tube crafts for kids and also animal crafts for kids that are fun to craft up with your kiddos as well.
What you’ll need
Get full list of supplies and directions in the printable version at the end of this post.
Paint (I used the following Folk Art colors, you can use whatever type of acrylic craft paint you prefer):
- Pink Melon (dark pink)
- Medium Orange (bright orange)
- Pink Balloon (light pink)
- Medium Blue (bright light blue)
- Daffodil Yellow (bright yellow)
- Purple Lilac (light purple)
- Lime Green (bright light green)
How to make a cardboard tube bunny rabbit family
Cut the cardboard tubes as follows. You will end up with 5 baby bodies, 2 adult bodies and 14 ears.
- Paper towel tube – Cut a 4.5″ piece for dad, a 4″ piece for mom and five 1/2″ ears.
- Toilet tube #1 – Cut two 1.5″ bodies and two 1/2″ ears.
- Toilet tube #2 – Cut two 1.5″ bodies and two 1/2″ ears.
- Toilet tube #3 – Cut one 1.5″ body and five 1/2″ ears.
- Paint each tube, inside and out, and a set of ears to go with each body.
- Run a line of hot glue inside the ear and squeeze it closed to flatten it.
- Use scissors to trim the tops of the ears to make them pointy.
- Hot glue the ears to the top inside of the cardboard tube body.
- Use pink paint to paint a line on each ear.
- Glue on mini pom-pom noses and cut bows from felt and attach. For girls, attach bows up by the ears, and for boys at the bottom front of the body.
- Use Sharpie to add eyes and whiskers.
- If you like, cut a simple apron from white felt for the mom. Cut out a small carrot from orange and green felt and glue it to the apron. Glue apron in place. Glue 2 buttons to the front of the dad.
Expert Crafting Tips
- Some people are uncomfortable using bathroom tissue rolls, especially those in a day care setting. Paper towel cardboard tubes are the same diameter, just longer, and work equally well.
- To simplify some of these steps, skip the apron on mama bunny and the buttons on daddy, and you can also use pink felt triangles (or construction paper) for the noses. Wiggle eyes will work too instead of a marker. I do use a hot glue gun in this project, so please supervise children closely or use a quick-drying glue such as Beacon’s instant grab glue.
I hope you enjoy making your adorable cardboard tube bunny rabbit family! It makes an awesome Easter craft that the kids will love to help with.
More Easter Crafts
- Pom Pom Chicks
- Easter Play Dough
- Handprint Easter Lily
- Easter Chick Placeholder Cups
- 10 Tips for Coloring Eggs with Toddlers
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Cardboard Tube Bunny Rabbit Family
Supplies
- 3 cardboard toilet paper tubes
- 1 cardboard paper towel tube
- 7 miniature pink and/or orange pom-poms
- felt in various colors for bow ties and hair bows
- black Sharpie marker
- white orange and green felt for apron (optional)
- 2 buttons optional
Paint
- Pink Melon
- Medium Orange
- Pink Balloon
- Medium Blue
- Daffodil Yellow
- Purple Lilac
- Lime Green
Craft tools
Instructions
- Cut the cardboard tubes as follows. You will end up with 5 baby bodies, 2 adult bodies and 14 ears.
- Paper towel tube – Cut a 4.5" piece for dad, a 4" piece for mom and five 1/2" ears.
- Toilet tube #1 – Cut two 1.5" bodies and two 1/2" ears
- Toilet tube #2 – Cut two 1.5" bodies and two 1/2" ears,
- Toilet tube #3 – Cut one 1.5" body and five 1/2" ears.
- Paint each tube, inside and out, and a set of ears to go with each body.
- Run a line of hot glue inside the ear and squeeze it closed to flatten it.
- Use scissors to trim tops of ears to make them pointy.
- Hot glue the ears to the top inside of the cardboard tube body.
- Use pink paint to paint a line on each ear.
- Glue on mini pom-pom noses and cut bows from felt and attach. For girls, attach bows up by the ears and for boys at the bottom front of the body.
- Use Sharpie to add eyes and whiskers.
- If you like, cut a simple apron from white felt for the mom. Cut out a small carrot from orange and green felt and glue to the apron. Glue apron in place. Glue 2 buttons to the front of the dad.
Expert Tips & FAQs
- Some people are uncomfortable using bathroom tissue rolls, especially those in a day care setting. Paper towel cardboard tubes are the same diameter, just longer, and work equally well.
- To simplify some of these steps, skip the apron on mama bunny and the buttons on daddy, and you can also use pink felt triangles (or construction paper) for the noses. Wiggle eyes will work too instead of a marker. I do use a hot glue gun in this project, so please supervise children closely or use a quick-drying glue such as Beacon’s instant grab glue.
This post was originally published on this blog on March 10, 2011.
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Dorothy Boucher says
lol these are cute but i thought they where bunny hats hehe @tisonlyme143
Karen M. Thomas says
Simply put…ADORABLE! Just what I was looking for, something I could make with my daughter too. I believe I can actually do this. No doubt my little one can master it :) Thanks Amanda, have a wonderful, blessed Easter!
Amanda Formaro says
Thanks Karen, have fun and Happy Easter!
Marie says
So adorable! I know I have a lot of toilet paper tubes that get thrown out all the time. These would be a cute project to use them for!
Victoria says
I love this!! The little family is so adorable. I shared this on my blog here: http://www.vixenmade.com/2012/04/10-easter-crafts-for-kids.html
Amanda says
Thanks so much for the shout out Victoria!
Jamie B says
LOVE your little TP bunnies!! I hope it’s okay, I just did a Easter crafts round-up and couldn’t help but feature your cute bunnies. You can see it here:
http://jamiebrock.hubpages.com/hub/Easter-Crafts-Round-Up-20-Super-Cute-Easter-Crafts
Thank you so much for sharing!
Julie Anne says
I have started saving my toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls… so excited to find more fun crafts to do with them! :)
visiting from CSI project
Joanna says
Hi there! I love this idea…it's so darling…and I was hoping that you might add it to my Easter and Spring Linking Party to share with my readers. If you are interested, you can go here http://bakedbyjoanna.blogspot.com/2011/04/easter-linking-party.html to enter. Thanks!
Amanda says
Thanks so much everyone! Hope you and your kids have a blast! :)
Domestic Goddess says
I'm a "pweeee-skewwwww" teacher and these would be so much fun for my kids to make. Thanks for the inspiration! Your blog is full of ideas that I know I'm going to use in my classroom.
Veronica says
Love the idea!! Amazing!! I´ll share this on my blog (is a blog in spanish, so I´ll be traslating the instructions, ´cause I think is just sooo pretty!! Thanks for this tutorial and fantastic Idea.
my blog is mamifashion.blogspot.com
RedTedArt says
Featured these on Easter Get Crafty today :-)))))
http://www.redtedart.com/2011/04/01/easter-get-crafty/
Maggy
mylittlegems says
We loved these- so we made our own version! Come over and see- (I'm about to post it:))
sharla @ My Little Gems
http://www.mygratitudeattitudes.blogspot.com
Jenette says
I love it! Thanks for the great idea! Off to make these with my little guy!
creativejewishmom/Sara says
adorable Amanda, thanks so much for sharing on Craft Schooling Sunday together wit the rest of your great projects!
[email protected] Daisy says
These are so, so cute! I just featured you on my Wednesday's Wowzers today:
http://oopsey-daisy.blogspot.com/2011/03/wednesdays-wowzers-talk-about-eye-candy.html
Thanks for the inspiration!!
RedTedArt says
Aaah how cute and love how you used all of the paper tube!!
Fab!
Maggy
Stephanie says
Adorable!!!!! I'm definitely making these this Easter! Thanks!
Rhonda @ Dollar Store Crafts says
So adorable! I'll be featuring this on Dollar Store Crafts this week :)
Tina says
what a sweet idea
TFS
tina
pretty paper posies
Regina @ Chalk In My Pocket says
How sweet! I just found you via a link party and know my daughter is going to love making these.
A great way to use recyclables too!
Cheers!
Regina
http://www.chalkinmypocket.com
Julie says
I love this! I'd love for you to link up at Inspire Me Mondays @ Singing Three Little Birds.
http://singingthreelittlebirds.blogspot.com/2011/03/inspire-me-monday.html
Michelle says
This is adorable and so festive!! I am a follower and I am having my first ever linky party for kids activities and I would LOVE if you would come link up this project! Hope to see you soon!
Michelle
http://delicateconstruction.blogspot.com/2011/03/very-first-made-by-little-hands-linky.html
Christina @ The Tattered Tag says
So thrifty & cute!! I have a ton of these tubes saved, thanks for sharing such a fun craft idea. I invite you to link to my blog bash K.I.S.S. Happy to be a new follower. :)
Drop by The Tattered Tag
radn says
nice tutorial!
I am having a gibeaway on my blog. $38 + free ship from busy little hands to buy a cute kid backpack from her store. She has tote's for mom too.Do check it out.
http://houseonashwelllane.blogspot.com/2011/03/38-store-credit-free-shipping-giveaway.html
Melissa @ The Chocolate Muffin Tree says
SO adorable and colorful!
[email protected] Bitsy Paper says
I know what my son and I will be making! I have a whole bag of these cardboard tubes saved and I knew I'd have a reason to use them eventually. Great post.
http://itsybitsypaper.blogspot.com
Rachel at Sun Scholars says
Those are so cute!
I'd love to have you link up to my For the Kids Friday Link Party!
Hop on by!!
http://sunscholars.blogspot.com
Becky says
These are so awesome! I am so glad I found you at Tatertots and Jello. I'm going to try to make these! :)
Jennifer says
Those are so stinking cute!!! I knew I was hoarding paper towel and TP tubes for a reason!! Guess what I'm doing with my girls this weekend!
Anji* says
These bunnies are so cute and simple to make! I think my kids would love to make them :)
Look beyond the picket fence says
I love these, I want to make a few for my Easter table. Thanks for the instructions!
denise
Megan says
So colorful and cute. This gives me a bad case of spring fever. LOL
...And Faux Pearls says
I love these! I just made them for my stepson to play with. I think I had almost as much fun making them as he will. :)
marla says
Amanda, love this crafty bunny family! The bright colors are so happy & hoppy.
[email protected] says
so, so cute amanda! I love bunnies!
gail
Sue says
Very cute and colorful, Amanda!
Arlene @At Home with the Grimms says
Totally cute and a great craft to do with my grands. Will start saving tubes now!!
Jennifer Dudley says
OMG These are sooooooo darn cute! I love it!
Katrina says
Those are really cute and simple, Amanda!