Cardboard Tube T-Rex

I’ve used this idea, or versions of it, for a few years now, but I decided to revisit it and apply my ‘pure making’ method. This means that every part of the initial tube gets incorporated into the design, leaving no waste. It’s entirely recyclable, and the only cost is the glue that’s holding it together. I’ve tried to keep this fairly simple, but sophisticated enough to make it exciting. The trickiest parts are really the teeth. You don’t have to cut them as long strips how I have, you could just use the leftover tube to cut out individual triangular teeth and then glue them in independently. For children, this is often easier to do. If you pour a small amount of PVA (I used the stronger ‘wood glue’ kind) into a small dish and then they can dip the end of the teeth into the glue, and just push them into position. Sometimes you can hold things in place temporarily with a bit of tape until things dry.

The basic design drawn onto one side of the squashed tube.

Here’s the making video . . . .

The initial shape, plus the saved pieces.

To make the model stronger you could use a few pieces of tissue to paper mache over the head, I’d avoid the teeth as they’d be too tricky to cover. Then you could obviously paint it. There’s also the option of building a simple body for it too, you could use the Dinosaur making project in my book ‘Art Shaped’ . . . the simple cardboard body there would suit this perfectly.