Recycled Toilet Tube Climbing Monkey | Kid’s Craft

My current job as a teacher in a Children’s Daycare require me to have arts & craft sessions with the kids.

We were learning Phonics Letter M, and so, I decided to teach them how to make a simple ‘monkey on a tree’ craft. Of course, most things are already prepared and all they have to do is decide where they want the things and stick it on. You can make your own monkey too!

What you’ll need :
1) Brown paper for monkey (I used light beige)
2) Green paper
3) Beige paper (for monkey’s face)
4) Marker (for monkey’s face)
5) Toilet tube rolls
6) Glue


I started out by light sketching out a monkey figure with its arms and legs open. I used the light beige paper as we ran out of brown paper. Cut it out and check if the size is alright.

Cut a heart shape with a rounded bottom for the monkey’s face. Use beige paper.
Use a marker to draw its face. As you can see, mine is in brown, but black works just as nicely.

Next, cut the leaves. I used 2 different shades of green for this.

Stick the leaves onto the insides of the toilet tube roll as shown above.
Fold it over to give it a nice bend.

Place the monkey at your desired position and glue down all 4 feet. Keep the monkey’s body lifted up a little to have the effect as above. Then, roll the monkey’s tail inwards and release, then roll the tip of the monkey’s tail back outwards. You’ll get that nice wave for its tail. And that is all! Your recycled toilet tube climbing monkey is done!


For kids who might find it tricky to stick just the 4 legs down, you can just stick the entire body down. This is how it’ll look like. I placed lesser leaves on this one so it doesn’t drape all over the monkey.

Front view of the second monkey (full body stuck down)

And that’s all! I hope you enjoy making this little monkey craft! A good way to utilize your extra toilet tube rolls! You can also guide your kids to learn the letter M by going Mmmmmmmmm..onkey!

Cheers!