Rapunzel Crafts For Preschoolers - A Simple Tissue Paper Tower

I’m a great believer in making crafts accessible for little ones – it doesn’t have to be something they can make as a whole, but it isn’t a toddler or preschool craft if they can’t actually make any part of it!

That’s why I love this Rapunzel tower craft because although it will probably need to be assembled by you, the grown-up (or an older sibling) the main part of this craft is all about little ones learning the art of sticking and gluing!

There’s plenty of opportunity for little ones to quite literally get stuck in and make this fairy castle their own!

So let’s go into it…

How to Make a Rapunzel Tower Out Of Cardboard

As already mentioned this craft is aimed at toddlers and preschoolers and is a great way for them to develop their fine motor skills too!

Depending on the age of your child, you may wish to make and assemble the tower itself beforehand and have them do the decorating, or even involve an older sibling who could do the more difficult parts, whichever you decide, it’s always best to be prepared and get all your supplies together first so you can dive straight in!

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What You’ll Need to Make your fairy tower:

Large cardboard tube/s – We have a collection of recycled cardboard that we keep in the shed for a rainy day to I pulled out a poster tube (about the thickness of a Pringles tube which would be a great option too – you’ll need two)
Thin Card – You’ll need this for the roof and any extra features you want to add
Glue – We used a glue gun for assembling the main elements of the tower, however this isn’t necessary, PVA should work it will just take a little more drying – you’ll also need a glue stick for the tissue paper sticking!
Tissue Paper – We used a selection of pinks and purples which we cut into squares to cover the tower and green for the vines, but you can use any colours you like!
The Extras – A button, some glitter, and a fairy or doll for playing!

Making the Tower

Once you have all of the parts you need it’s time to start crafting the structure:

Creating The Structure

Cut a long tube into two pieces (or use to short crisp tubes)
Using a knife, cut a window at the bottom of one of the tubes (keep the cut out piece as you’ll need this for the door later) If you struggle to cut the door out with a knife you could always use scissors and cut up from the base of the tube
Draw around the base of the tube and cut that out ready to create a ledge between the tubes for your fairy or princess to sit on looking out of the window (or a dinosaur or whoever you fancy really!)

Making The Roof And Assembling The Tower

Draw around a plate and then cut out a pac man shape (!) This will form the roof
Using glue, attach the two sides of the roof together to create a cone shape – this will sit on top of your tower once made
Using a glue gun, or alternative, stick the round circle of card to the top of the first tube and then glue the top half (With the window at the bottom) This creates a ledge just under the window to sit a toy or something inside as if looking out of the window
Leave all other parts separate for the time being as you will want to add these after they have been decorated

This would be a good point to have your toddler start at if as the next part they can be full hands on and get gluing and sticking!

Decorating The Tissue Paper Tower – Gluing and Sticking

This is sooo simple, and so makes a great activity for little ones (depending on how long you want the activity to take or how long your little one will be interested, will determine how big your pieces of tissue paper are – the smaller they are the longer it takes)

Using the glue stick, cover the tube with glue where you want to stick, and stick the tissue paper on – the beauty of this is that you really can’t go wrong! Just keep layering and use the glue to flatten any pieces and secure them on
Do the same for the door and roof pieces (we chose to do these in a different colour to make them stand out but you could use the same colour if you wanted)

finishing touches

Once you have all your decorated pieces all finished, it’s time to pop the whole thing together using some glue and then it’s on to the finer details!

Button Door Handle – We glued on a button but you could use literally anything! (You could if you wanted to take this project a little further…cut a door opening at the bottom and just glue or tape the edge of the door so that it opens!)
Tissue Paper Vines – We wanted to add something growing up the sides, so we twisted some green tissue paper into long thin sausages and glue them on, we then just scrunched up small balls of tissue paper (a great fine motor activity for little ones) and stuck those on to create little leaves and shoots
Glitter – I just can’t stress enough how magical glitter makes things! We just used the glue stick to create a glitter edge to our window, roof and front door and to finish off our vine plant growing up the sides – it really makes the whole thing pop!

Once you have add the finishing touches (these are only suggestions I’m sure there’s lots more you could do!) Then all that’s left to do is add whoever you want to your tower and get playing!

Making A Rapunzel Tower Recap:

So there you have it – a super easy craft for toddlers; a tissue paper craft that your child can actually help to make and enjoy playing with too! So in case you’re short on time, here’s the short version in a quick recap:

Using cardboard tubes, create a tower with mini ledge and cut out window
Create a cone shaped roof out of card to add to the top
Once assembled, cover your tower in squares of tissue paper and do the same to the roof and door
Finish off with some plants growing up the sides made out of tissue paper and add some glitter to give it that wow factor!

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I hope you have as much fun creating this as we did – and if you do give it a go yourself please do let us know in the comments below – we would especially love to see any alternatives you create!

Happy Crafting!

Louisa | Mum’s Creative Cupboard x