Wanted on Voyage – A Paddington Bear Tissue Roll Craft

Do you love my stories? Or do you get bored of them?

I sure do love telling them to you!

So here’s another – I and Little B hatched a plan to make a surprise for Mr. B for Father’s Day – a bookmark. I asked her to defy her instinct and not tell the surprise to Mr. B at all. So she instead gave him a hint – “it is something that you put in a book and it starts with the letter B.” Pretty obvious hint, right?

So we had to leave the bookmark idea and search for a new one. Little B loves Paddington Bear and Paddington bear carries a note around his neck reading, “Please look after this bear. Thank you.”

And then it hit me. It would be such a perfect thing to gift Mr. B a baby bear with a tag reading “please look after this bear.”

Of course I was looking to gift him a pretend bear and not a real one but question was how to make it. Pinterest inspired me and so did Red Ted Art. We were all set to make the Paddington Bear out of a toilet tissue roll.

Paddington Bear Tissue Roll Craft

What You Will Need

1 empty toilet roll

Red origami paper (I ran out of red so used orange instead)

Blue felt sheet

1 small box, of the size of a small matchbox (you can use a matchbox as well)

1 small piece of thread (to put around the bear)

Markers

Scissors

Glue (a little strong one)

How to Go About It

Paddington’s Hat

The origami paper should be roughly the size of an A5 paper.  The origami papers that I had were square so I taped two of them together to make an A5 rectangular paper.

To make the paper hat, start folding the paper as shown in the following pics (the folds are similar to that of an origami paper boat). You can read further explanation about the hat on the captions of these pictures.

1. Take an A5 paper and flip it over.

2. Fold it into half.

3. Fold it further like a paper boat.

4. Fold the front flap up.

5. Fold the front flap more to hide the white paper.

6. Flip it over and repeat the folds with the flap on the other side.

7. Tuck both the ends of the hat with glue or tape. Push the hat a little in from the top to give it shape.

8. Shape it further by folding from here and here. The crinkly it is, the better.

Paddington’s Body

Mark Paddington’s eyes and nose with a marker.

Cut a strip out of the felt long enough to go around the tissue roll and just enough wide so that there is space for Paddington’s face and feet to be visible. Glue it on the roll. This felt roll will be Paddington’s coat.

Cut a triangle at the front bottom of the roll and mark paws with the marker.

Glue in Paddington’s hat on the top of the roll. You might have to adjust the hat a little bit.

Glue in buttons on Paddington’s coat. You can alternatively make buttons out of felt.

Cut a little tag and write on it “Please look after this Bear. Thank You.” Punch the tag and put it around Paddington’s neck with a thread.

Marmalade Sandwiches

Take three felt squares (about 2 square inches or so) – two brown and one orange. Layer them and glue them together like a sandwich. Cut them into two triangles as you would cut a real sandwich.

Paddington’s Suitcase

You can make it out of a matchbox or out of any other similar-shaped box you might be having. Mark the suitcase with Paddington’s initials “P.B.” and “Wanted on Voyage.”

Don’t forget to put on a handle on the suitcase. I made mine with felt pieces. You can use cardboard pieces as well.

All done.

Time for another funny story – We made this bear just a week before Father’s Day. Little B was so excited, she told Mr. B of the surprise right after we made it. Not just that, she insisted on showing it to him and she finally did show it to him well before Father’s Day.

What did I learn from it – Little B keeps surprises really well, but she can’t digest even a single secret when it comes to her Pa.