Use the step-by-step tutorial below to make four-leaf clover and shamrock crafts with recycled cardboard toilet paper rolls or tubes for Saint Patrick’s Day!
Making easy shamrock crafts with recycled cardboard toilet paper rolls for St. Patrick’s Day is fun for kids and adults alike. Especially if you are looking for an easy Saint Patrick’s Day craft using supplies you already have at home. Toilet paper rolls are perfect for making fun shamrock and four-leaf clover decorations. With just a few recycled cardboard tubes, some paint, and a bit of creativity, kids can transform everyday items into bright green symbols of Irish luck.
Use toilet paper tubes to make shamrocks and four-leaf clovers to decorate for St. Patrick’s Day, with step-by-step instructions and a video tutorial below. Paper Saint Patrick’s Day crafts are fun to make with your children or students at home or in the classroom. This shamrock craft tutorial makes it easy to create simple, homemade, inexpensive St. Patrick’s Day crafts and decorations. You might also enjoy learning about the differences between a shamrock and a clover. Discover the answer and several more Saint Patrick’s Day Crafts–>HERE!
Fun St Patrick’s Day Shamrock Crafts for Kids and Adults:
Here’s a St Patrick’s Day craft activity for kids and adults of all ages to enjoy. Learn how to make shamrock crafts from recycled cardboard tubes for Saint Patrick’s Day. Easy toilet paper roll crafts like these shamrock crafts are a simple spring craft activity. Toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarteners, elementary school students, tweens, and teens will each enjoy making these recycled crafts. Even adults will enjoy making toilet paper tube shamrocks to celebrate St Patrick’s Day!
Whether you’re making decorations for a Saint Patrick’s Day celebration or just looking for a quick spring afternoon craft activity, recycled toilet paper roll shamrocks are a fun and eco-friendly way to celebrate the holiday. This hands-on activity encourages creativity, improves fine motor skills, and teaches kids how to reuse common household items instead of throwing them away.
Best of all, these paper shamrock crafts are meant for more than a second trip to the recycle bin, because they can be used to make necklaces and decorations for a St. Patrick’s Day party! The shamrock craft tutorial below explains how to make toilet paper roll shamrocks and four-leaf clover crafts. You might also enjoy using them to make a lucky four-leaf clover and Shamrock Necklaces. With this simple craft idea, you won’t get caught without your green on Saint Patrick’s Day!
How to Make Toilet Paper Roll Shamrock Crafts with a Cardboard Tube Toilet Paper Roll:
I recommend reading through the step-by-step shamrock craft activity instructions before making recycled cardboard tube shamrocks and four-leaf clover crafts. This will help you understand the steps involved and what to expect, so you can prepare accordingly. This is especially important if you plan to make them with young children, such as toddlers or preschoolers. The toilet paper tube craft video tutorial shows each step of this easy Saint Patrick’s Day craft idea in action, making these recycled Saint Patrick’s Day crafts even easier to make at home or in the classroom.
Recycled Shamrock Craft Supplies:
- Recycled cardboard toilet paper rolls or tubes.
- Flat wash paintbrush.
- Green Acrylic paint (Tempera paint does not cover the toilet paper roll well enough because the cardboard shows through, and you need more than one coat to cover it, so it can no longer show through the paint color).
- Scissors.
- Hot glue, glue tape, a craft glue pen, or glue dots.
Toilet Paper Roll Shamrock and Clover Crafts Step-By-Step Video Tutorial:
Make four-leaf clover and shamrock crafts with recycled toilet paper rolls. The step-by-step DIY video tutorial makes it easy to see each step of the instructions above:
Related: Rainbow Shamrock Salt Painting Idea
Toilet Paper Roll Shamrocks Step-by-Step Craft Instructions:
Toilet paper tube crafts like these shamrocks are fun for children and adults. Once finished, you can hang them as shamrock decorations and transform them into necklaces you can wear in celebration. Please read through the step-by-step instructions below before starting this St. Patrick’s Day craft activity project, so you know the steps involved and what to expect before attempting to make shamrock and four-leaf clover crafts with children.
Related: Four-Leaf Clover Handprint Craft
1. Gather toilet paper rolls (tubes) from the recycle bin or recycled craft supply stash:
- First, collect a few toilet paper tubes (or the recycled craft supplies you’ve saved from the recycle bin).
- I save toilet paper tubes in a large paper bag and use them to create recycled paper roll crafts with my daughter at home, such as these birdhouse crafts.
- Next, follow the steps below to make Saint Patrick’s Day toilet paper tube crafts.
2. Paint the outside of the recycled cardboard tube green:
- Use a flat wash paintbrush to paint the outside of each toilet paper roll with green acrylic paint.
- While tempera paint can also be used, it does not work as well as acrylic paint.
- Tempera paint can take several coats to make the toilet paper roll look green, whereas acrylic usually needs only one.
- Allow the paint to dry before moving on to the next step in this recycled shamrock craft.
3. Cut each toilet paper tube into strips of recycled cardboard circles:
- When the paint is completely dry, use scissors to cut the toilet paper tube into strips, as shown in the video tutorial below.
Related: Best Spring Activities for Kids
4. Mold each recycled toilet paper roll circle strip into the shape of a heart to make each clover or shamrock leaf:
- When you cut the painted toilet paper roll into strips, you will notice that the cardboard tube bends in two places.
- Shape each recycled cardboard tube circle into a heart so it looks like an individual clover leaf by pressing into the circle of one of the slightly bent sides of the cardboard tube and squeezing the other bent side together with two fingers, as shown in the shamrock craft video tutorial below.
- Fortunately, acrylic paint helps the bent cardboard tube retain its heart-cloverleaf shape much better than an unpainted toilet paper roll.
- Go ahead and test it for yourself!
5. Glue recycled cardboard tube hearts to make toilet paper roll shamrocks or lucky four-leaf clover Crafts:
- Use hot glue, a glue stick, glue tape, a glue pen, or glue dots to attach the cardboard tube heart-shaped leaves to the tip of each heart-shaped clover leaf in the center.
- Because hot glue guns are dangerous tools for young children, glue pens and dots are a great alternative to hot glue for toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergarteners.
- Three paper-roll hearts are needed to create the three-lobed leaves of a toilet-paper-roll shamrock, while each recycled-cardboard four-leaf clover will need four cardboard-tube hearts, as shown in the photograph below.
- Make the stems for your toilet paper tube shamrock by cutting a circle from a cardboard tube into two equal parts.
- The step-by-step shamrock craft video tutorial shows how to make a shamrock from a toilet paper tube. Watch the video tutorial below to see how to glue the recycled cardboard hearts together to create shamrocks and four-leaf clovers. Or, use the step-by-step instructions following the photograph of both St. Patrick’s Day crafts below.
How to Make Toilet Paper Roll Shamrocks:
- Each toilet paper roll shamrock requires three heart-shaped toilet paper roll pieces.
- Use hot glue, glue tape, a glue pen, or glue dots to attach three heart-shaped cardboard tubes in the center.
- Glue a stem to the inside of one of the bottom two heart-shaped lobes of each shamrock craft, as shown in the photo of the shamrock craft below.
How to Make Toilet Paper Roll Four-Leaf Clovers:
- For each toilet paper roll Saint Patrick’s Day craft, you will need four heart-shaped toilet paper tube pieces.
- Glue the cardboard pieces so the tip of each heart-shaped clover leaf is in the center with a glue gun, glue sticks, a glue pen, or glue dots so that the four heart-shaped cardboard tube pieces all touch in the center of the clover craft.
- Finally, glue a stem to the inside of the bottom two heart-shaped lobes of each four-leaf clover craft, as shown in the photo below.
Related: Shamrock Handprint Craft with Poem
Recycled Shamrock and Clover Necklace Crafts:
Next, learn how to turn your recycled shamrock and clover crafts into Shamrock and Lucky Clover Necklace Crafts! You won’t get pinched without your green with these quick-and-easy Saint Patrick’s Day necklaces!
Recycled Cardboard Tube Shamrock and Clover Crafts:
Making shamrocks and four-leaf clovers from recycled toilet paper rolls is a simple craft for kids or adults. It transforms something that would normally go in the recycling bin into festive art that kids can proudly display. Each shamrock or four-leaf clover shape turns out a little different, which is part of the fun.
This craft also serves as a great reminder that creativity doesn’t require fancy supplies. Sometimes the best projects start with everyday materials, like toilet paper rolls, that would otherwise end up in a landfill. So gather a few cardboard tubes, set out the green paint, and enjoy making a lucky little patch of shamrocks ☘️ and lucky four-leaf clovers together this Saint Patrick’s Day. 🍀
Learn more about Nell Regan Kartychok, author, photographer, and videographer of this easy Saint Patrick’s Day craft HERE, and Rhythms of Play HERE!
Recycled Toilet Paper Roll Crafts and Green Living Ideas for Kids:
- Toilet Paper Roll Birdhouses
- Caring for the Earth: 12 Ways to Help Kids Live a More Sustainable Life
- Encouraging Kindness to Nature
Fun Saint Patrick’s Day Arts and Crafts:
- Rainbow Shamrock Salt Painting
- Best Shamrock and Clover Arts and Crafts for Kids
- Handprint Shamrock Craft with Printable Poem
- Best Sensory Bottles for Every Holiday and Season
- Four-Leaf Clover Handprint Craft with Poem
- Rainbow Rainy Day Art Kids STEAM
- Saint Patrick’s Day Salt Paint Shamrock Art Project
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