Toilet Paper Roll Pigs

This week Crystal at Mom for Less and myself are talking about pigs.  She brings you a homeschool lesson and I create a craft to go along with her lesson all thanks to a partnership with Indiana’s Family of Farmers.  The girls and I decided to make these toilet paper pigs.  How cute are they?

Growing up on my family farm we had pigs as well as dairy, corn, soybeans, hay and wheat.  I loved helping my dad and uncle with the pigs.  I would go feeding with them most nights.  We had a farrowing barn where the sows (mommy pigs) would deliver their babies.  This type of barn kept the babies safe so the sows wouldn’t lay on them, but still allowed access for nursing.  Then we would move the baby pigs into a nursery once they were weaned from the sow.  When they reached 55 pounds, my dad and uncle would sell them to my great-uncle who would feed them out to market weight which is about 260 pounds.  The pig market hit an all time low in the late 90’s,  but my dad managed to keep them until 2005 when he decided to no longer raise pigs.  “I managed to make it through the hog market crash in the late 90’s and farrowed my last sow in January of 2005.”   However, the dairy and grain farm are still going strong.  My love for pigs hasn’t gone away even though I’ve been away from it for so long and now live on a beef and grain farm.  Our girls show pigs in 4H and mini 4H, so I’m still able to get my “pig fix.”

Here I am with one of B’s (our oldest) pigs from this past year.

Even though we did have a farrowing barn and nursery on my family farm, we did raise some pigs outdoors.  That was a struggle in the cold weather.  The pigs that we have for 4H are kept outside (It’s Spring and Summer when we have them so the weather is nice.)   Now onto this adorable craft.

Toilet Paper Roll Pigs

For this project you will need: toilet paper roll, pink construction paper, pink pipe cleaner, pink buttons, googly eyes, hot glue gun, hot glue sticks, craft glue, and a black marker (optional)

Let me begin by saying that your pig doesn’t have to be pink.  Just like beef and dairy cattle, there are also different breeds of pigs.  Some are red, some are black and white, some are all black, etc.  However, for our pigs, we decided to make them pink.;)

Begin by folding pink construction paper in half lengthwise and cutting along the line.  Trim off excess so it fits the toilet paper roll.  Keep the extra and use it for the ears.  Use a hot glue gun or craft glue to glue the paper to the roll.  If using craft glue you will need to hold the paper on until the glue dries a bit.

Next attach the button nose and eyes.  Also draw on the eyebrows with black marker, if using.

Now wrap the pipe cleaner around a pencil, your finger, or the black marker if using.

Glue the pipe cleaner to the back of the roll.

Cut two triangles from the pink construction paper.

Glue them to the inside of the roll, just below the edge.  Once the glue dries, fold them over the edge of the roll.

The girls told me not to put eyebrows on them, but I did on one and I think it turned out great!

Love the one with the big snout too!

As always, don’t forget to visit my friend, Crystal at Mom for Less for a homeschool lesson that talks about how pork gets to your fork!