Toilet Paper Roll Stamp

This toilet paper roll stamp art is a fun creative painting activity we’ve had on the website for many years. Kids love the messy sensory fun of painting with a toilet paper roll. Therapy providers love using the recycled materials in building skills like bilateral coordination, motor planning, and more!

toilet paper roll stamp

Therapy materials are expensive, so using items that you typically throw away are wonderful! That’s where this toilet paper roll stamp comes into play. All you need are a few toilet paper rolls or paper towel tubes and some foam stickers to get started.

We’ve painted paper rolls and used toilet paper tubes in crafts before but have you ever painted with a toilet paper tube?

How to make a toilet paper roll stamp

To use a paper tube into a stamp, you’ll need just a few items:

• Recycled paper tube (toilet paper roll or the inside of a paper towel roll)
• Foam stickers
• Paint
• Paper
• Paint brush- this item isn’t necessary unless you want to paint the foam stickers to extend fine motor skill work.

To set up the painting with stamps activity, ask your child to help you stick the foam stickers all around the paper roll. There are so many benefits of playing with stickers and this part of the activity is another skill-builder.

Why?

Because when kids position stickers on a paper tube, they are building several motor areas:

• Bilateral coordination to hold the paper tube and to stick the sticker onto the tube with the other hand
• Fine motor precision to position the sticker
• Wrist extension to position the sticker on a vertical or slanted surface

After positioning the stickers onto the paper roll, pour some paint onto scrap paper or in a low tray.

1. Show users how to roll the paper tube into the paint. This is a great exercises in graded pressure, or proprioception. If they press too hard, paint covers the whole paper tube. If they don’t press hard enough, paint will not evenly cover the foam stickers. This awareness carries over to pencil pressure when writing.
2. Or, paint the foam stickers with a paint brush. This is a great way to work on pencil grasp with extended wrist, which pulls the muscles of the hand and wrist into an optimal position for pencil grasp through a play activity.
3. Then, roll the paper tube onto paper. This again supports awareness of proprioception as well as bilateral awareness. If they press too hard, the paint images are squished and you can’t tell what the stamp is. If pressed too lightly, the paint doesn’t transfer to the paper. Using both hands together with equal pressure is a bilateral coordination skill that transfers to functional tasks.

Working on fine motor skills? Grab one of our Therapy Kits for printable activities that build finger dexterity, fine motor strength, and coordination needed for tasks like using scissors or pencil grasp.

Working on fine motor skills, visual perception, visual motor skills, sensory tolerance, handwriting, or scissor skills? Our Fine Motor Kits cover all of these areas and more.

Check out the seasonal Fine Motor Kits that kids love:

• Spring Fine Motor Kit
• Summer Fine Motor Kit (sale price)
• Fall Fine Motor Kit
• Winter Fine Motor Kit

Or, grab one of our themed Fine Motor Kits to target skills with fun themes:

• Frogs Fine Motor Kit
• Unicorns Fine Motor Kit
• Vehicles Fine Motor Kit
• Apple Fine Motor Kit
• Back to School Kit
• Sports Fine Motor Kit
• Outer Space Fine Motor Kit
• Fairytale Fine Motor Kit
• Plus more in our shop!

Want access to all of these kits…and more being added each month? Join The OT Toolbox Member’s Club!