Easy DIY Toilet Paper Roll Heart Stamps for Kids

Wondering what to do with all the empty toilet paper rolls you have lying around the house? Use them to make DIY toilet paper roll heart stamps for Valentine’s Day! This cute recycled heart craft is both easy and fun to do, and it’s perfect for toddlers and preschoolers.

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Isn’t it nice when you can do crafts using materials that you would have otherwise tossed in the recycling bin?

I don’t know about you, but we always seem to have a ton of toilet paper rolls lying around the house—probably because our six-year-old collects them in order to make crafts with them.

We used some of our toilet paper rolls to make DIY pom-pom shooters over the holidays and the kids LOVED them. But somehow, we still seem to have just as many as we started with.

So with Valentine’s Day coming up, I thought it would be fun to use them for some sort of heart craft. And as it turns out, turning a toilet paper roll into a heart-shaped stamp is not only fun, it’s also super simple!

So if you have a lot of empty paper rolls lying around and you’ve been looking for an easy Valentine’s Day craft to do with your kids, you’ll definitely want to give this one a try.

How to Make Heart Stamps out of Toilet Paper Rolls

Required Materials

Here’s what you’ll need in order to create this DIY heart stamp craft using toilet paper rolls:

• Toilet paper roll or paper towel roll
• Adhesive tape
• Paint (we used washable kids’ paint)
• Cardstock (you can also use regular paper, but as it’s thinner than cardstock, it may not hold up as well)
• Black pen or marker (optional)
• Scissors (optional)
• Glue stick (optional)

Note: All the supplies marked as “optional” will help you create a cute Valentine’s hot air balloon using your heart stamps… but if you’re only interested in creating the stamps and aren’t looking for a finished art project to use them for, feel free to skip those parts of the tutorial!

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Fold Cardboard Tube

Start by flattening the toilet paper roll or paper towel roll between your fingers so that it is folded in half.

2. Create Heart Shape

When your cardboard roll has been flattened, unfold it and use your fingers to press one of the folded edges inward instead of outward. This should create the shape of a heart.

If you’re using a paper towel roll instead of a toilet paper roll, you may find this step more difficult since they’re a lot longer—but you can remedy this by cutting the folded cardboard roll into multiple pieces and using it to create multiple heart stamps!

Note: If you’re having trouble picturing this part of the craft based solely on photos, you can watch the video tutorial in this article to see it in live action.

3. Tape Heart Stamp

Once you’ve bent your toilet paper roll into the required shape, secure it with adhesive tape to prevent it from getting deformed during the stamping process.

This step is optional as you can also choose to just hold the shape in place with your fingers, but if you’re doing this craft with a toddler or preschooler, it will probably save you a lot of headaches.

4. Dip Stamp in Paint

Pour a bit of paint onto a flat paint palette or small plate and press your paper roll heart stamp into the paint, moving it around as needed until the heart shape is completely covered with paint.

If you’re using several colours like we did, you can either stamp one colour at a time, or create multiple homemade heart stamps and use one for each colour.

5. Press Stamp to Paper or Cardstock

It’s time to do some stamping! Press the paint-covered toilet paper roll onto your sheet of paper or cardstock and use it to create heart imprints in multiple colours.

If you’re crafting with a toddler and you want to keep things simple, you may want to end the activity here and just let them stamp as many hearts as they want. If so, that is totally fine!

But we decided to take things a step further and use the heart stamps to create a Valentine’s Day hot air balloon. So if you want to do this as well, read the next couple of steps to find out how.

6. Draw Balloon Strings (Optional)

Grab a black pen or marker and use it to create balloon strings underneath the balloons. Since some of the heart “balloons” will overlap, you don’t need to worry too much about drawing the strings for the ones at the top—the strings will look just fine at the bottom.

I used a pen for this, but if I were to make this craft again, I would probably use a fine-point marker instead because my balloon strings ended up looking a bit too thin for my liking.

7. Add Hot Air Balloon Basket (Optional)

Using scissors and a different colour of cardstock, cut a small trapezoid shape that will be used to create the basket of the hot air balloon. I started out with a rectangle and then cut two of the sides at an angle—feel free to do this too if you feel it’s simpler.

Once you are happy with your basket shape, use a stick of glue to glue it onto the bottom of the balloon strings… and you’re done! Didn’t it turn out so cute?

Related Valentine Heart Crafts

Looking for more cute heart art projects to make for Valentine’s Day? Check out these easy Valentine’s craft ideas:

• Bubble-Painted Valentine’s Day Card
• Yarn Valentine’s Day Garland
• Sponge-Stamped Valentine’s Day Card
• Torn Paper Strip Hearts
• DIY Button Valentine’s Day Card

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