Upcycled Toilet Paper Roll Chinese New Year Firecrackers Sensory Bin

Chinese New Year is just around the corner! This year, it falls on February 12.

Firecrackers are a huge part of my memories of spending Chinese New Year in China. I remember firecrackers would be set off for a good part of the night before Chinese New Year. And I distinctly remember going outside the next day and the entire neighborhood was covered in firecracker shells.

To commemorate, I thought it would be fun to upcycle toilet paper rolls and make firecrackers. And we will be using these Chinese New Year firecrackers in a sensory bin as well.

If you haven’t already checked it out, I have another post with other fun and easy activities for Chinese/Lunar New Year for preschoolers. Free printables are also included! Hope you’ll check it out!

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How to Make Toilet Paper Roll Chinese New Year Firecrackers

Materials for Chinese New Year Firecrackers:

• toilet paper rolls
• red cardstock or construction paper
• yellow/gold cardstock or washi tape
• tape
• hot glue gun
• holepunch (optional)
• string (optional)
• rice (optional)
• food coloring (optional)

Step 1

Collect toilet paper rolls! If you know me, you know I love collecting cardboard and toilet paper rolls to do crafts with. It drives my husband crazy, but they come in handy!

Step 2

Measure and cut rectangular pieces of red cardstock and cover the toilet paper rolls.

It helped to tape down one end of the cardstock before rolling it. And I glued down the other end with hot glue.

Step 3

Using strips of yellow/gold cardstock or washi tape, create a line around each end of the firecracker AKA toilet paper roll.

Step 4

Repeat steps 1-3 for as many firecrackers as you want to make. We made 8.

Step 5 (Optional)

If you would like to string the firecrackers together, punch a hole at the top of each firecracker and using string, thread them together to create a string of firecrackers.

Firecracker Sensory Bin

This portion is also optional, but I plan on doing this. You can dye some rice red or yellow (or both) and create a sensory bin. Check out my How to Make Rainbow Rice post if you want to learn how to dye rice!

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A post shared by Rebecca | Disc Mommyhood (@discoveringmommyhood)