Make an octopus pencil pot

Equipment you will need:

• A toilet roll rube
• A sheet of paper
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Glue
• Sticky tape
• Pens or pencils

 

How to do it: 

1. Lay the toilet roll tube against one of the short sides of the paper and wrap it up. On the bottom edge of the paper, mark the point where the paper has overlapped by about 1 cm.

2. Measure from the short side to the mark you made. Measure this distance along the top edge and mark again.

3. Use a ruler to draw a line between the two marks and cut along it. Keep the part of the paper you rolled up and put the rest to one side for later.

 

4. Using the toilet roll tube as a guide, measure so that there will be about 8cm of paper stretching beyond the tube when you wrap it up. Using the same technique as above, draw a line and cut away any excess paper.

 

5. Use the ruler to help you divide the area of paper that will overhang the toilet roll tube into 8 even strips – these will be the octopus tentacles.

6. If you want to colour in the octopus it’s best to do it before you cut the tentacles apart. Make sure to colour the front and the back of the tentacles.

7. Cut the tentacles apart but make sure you leave them attached to the body. Wrap each tentacle around a pen to help it curl.

8. If you need your pencil pot to have a bottom, take a small circle of paper and carefully wrap it around one end of your toilet roll tube. Small slits in the paper will help you wrap it flush to the tube and sticky tape will hold it firmly in place.

9. Cover the toilet roll tube in glue and then carefully wrap the octopus’ body around the tube, leaving the tentacles to hang down beyond it (you may need to re-curl the tentacles at this point).

10. Finally add a face, suckers and any other details you like to your octopus.