Ask Ollie
Hanging Tube Bats
Here's one to try together!
Turn a cardboard tube into a spooky little bat and hang a whole colony upside down!
Reviewed by our team.
Safety first
- scissors: adult should cut wing shapes for young children
- string: possible strangulation or entanglement risk when hanging, supervise young children
- small pieces of tape and paper scraps may be a mouthing hazard for toddlers
What you need
- Paper, 1 sheet per bat
- Crayons or markers, black or dark purple, plus a few colors for faces
- Glue stick, 1
- Kid scissors, 1 pair
- Painter's tape, a few small pieces (any tape works)
- Toilet paper tubes, 1 per bat
- String, 12 inches per bat
- Bowl, 1 small, for scraps (optional)
How to do it
Grown-up prep: Gather the supplies and cut a few string pieces. Check that the hanging spot is safe and out of reach of little necks.
- Color your whole tube black or dark purple.
- Draw two big wing shapes on folded paper.
- Cut out your wings. Ask for help if you need it
- Color the wings black or dark purple.
- Glue the wings onto opposite sides of the tube.
- Fold the top edge of the tube in to make pointy ears.
- Draw big eyes and tiny fangs on your bat. Ask: Is your bat sleepy, silly or spooky?
- Tape a string to the bottom, then hang your bat upside down.
- Make more bats! How big can your bat cave get? Ask: Can you give each bat its own name and personality?
Play it again
- Bat family: make a big mama bat from a paper towel tube and baby bats from small tube pieces.
- Flashlight cave: turn off the lights and use a flashlight to find each bat hiding in the dark.
- Silly species: give your bat stripes, spots or a rainbow face and invent its name.
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