Christmas Binoculars

A while back, Alex had his first brush with what would become one of our favorite crafts: Adventure Binoculars. I had no idea how fun two toilet paper tubes could be, but that little boy ran around with them around his neck for nearly two months before they actually disintegrated from overuse. He still loves homemade binoculars, and making different designs has become a thing around our house. We’ve had bear-noculars, bee-noculars, bug-noculars, and now, Christmas binoculars.

This year, he wanted some Christmas binoculars to use for watching out for Santa. Between his sister and him, they wanted three designs: a snowman, an elf, and, of course, the big man himself. I was just surprised nobody wanted Rudolph!

These are just about as easy as a craft can get, and while my nearly 3-year-old daughter struggled a bit with the cutting, my 5-year-old can make these from start to finish. This would be a great craft for a kids’ Christmas party. It’s simple, fast, and practically free!

Christmas Binoculars, Step-by-Step

Materials

2 empty toilet paper rolls
construction paper
- elf: green, yellow, black
- snowman: white, black, red
- Santa: red, white, black, yellow
yarn
hole punch
scissors
glue

Elf Instructions

First, glue your toilet paper tubes together.

Next cut out your pieces. You’ll need:

green rectangle approx. 4.25″ x 7″
black strip approx. 1/4″ x 7″
yellow rectangle with center cut out

Once your toilet paper tubes have dried, wrap the green paper around the tubes and glue in the back.

Do the same with the black strip, placing it approximately in the center of the binoculars.

Then, glue the yellow rectangle to the front to create a belt buckle.

The last step is to punch a hole on both sides of the binoculars, thread the yarn through and tie it off. I don’t have a good photo of this from the Christmas binoculars, so enjoy this bumblebee version for reference. Voila!

Snowman Instructions

First, glue your toilet paper tubes together.

Next cut out your pieces. You’ll need:

white rectangle approx. 4.25″ x 7″.
3 small black circles
2 red rectangles approx. 1 x 7″

Once your toilet paper tubes have dried, wrap the white paper around the tubes and glue in the back.

Next, take one of the red rectangles and fold it in half. Snip the ends to make them angled, then glue them to the front slightly off-centered.

Then, take the other red rectangle and wrap it around the top of the binoculars, covering the piece you just glued on. This will make the snowman’s scarf.

Glue the three black circles to the front for buttons.

Santa Instructions

First, glue your toilet paper tubes together.

Next cut out your pieces. You’ll need:

red rectangle approx. 4.25″ x 7″.
white strip with wavy edges approx. 2″x7″
black strip approx. 1/4″x7″
yellow rectangle with center cut out

Once your toilet paper tubes have dried, wrap the white paper around the tubes and glue in the back.

Then, glue the white wavy strip around the center with the ends overlapping in the back.

Do the same with the black strip, wrapping it around the center of the binoculars.

Then, glue the yellow rectangle to the front like a belt buckle. Your last step is to use the hole punch to punch holes on either side of the binoculars, thread the yarn through, and tie it off. I don’t have a good picture from the Christmas binoculars, so enjoy this bumblebee version for reference!