DLTK's Crafts for Kids
King Minos Toilet Paper Roll Craft

Contributed by Leanne Guenther

This is a fun and simple color, cut and paste paper craft that uses a toilet paper roll as a base to give it a three dimensional effect.

In Greek mythology, Minos was the King of Crete and one of the sons of the god Zeus (he was portrayed as greedy and not very nice in most of the myths):

• King Minos was the one who imprisoned the inventor Daedalus and his son Icarus so that he could keep Daedalus' inventions to himself.  They attempted to escape using wings created by Daedalus but Icarus flew too close to the sun and plunged to his death in the sea.  Read the Story of Icarus.
• King Minos imprisoned the Minotaur, a half beast/half bull creature, in a labyrinth -- sacrificing young people from Athens to the monster each year until the hero Theseus defeated the minotaur and escaped the labyrinth using a spool of thread which he unravelled and then followed back to the entrance.
• King Minos sacrificed Scylla because she killed her father, Nisos, by cutting off his magical piece of red hair.  Scylla was turned into a seagull after her death.

Materials:

• a toilet paper roll,
• printer,
• glue,
• scissors,
• something to color with,
• a piece of paper

Instructions:

• Print out the template of choice.
• Color the pieces as appropriate and cut them out.
• Glue the large rectangular piece (the tunic) around the top of the toilet paper roll.
• Glue the smaller rectangle (the legs) around the bottom of the toilet paper roll.
• Glue the thin rectangle to cover where the other two pieces meet (this is hem of his tunic).
• Fold the tabs on the feet and glue them inside the toilet paper roll to give it a three dimensional effect
• Glue the arms to the sides of the toilet paper roll.
• Glue the head onto the top of the toilet paper roll.
• Glue the "props" into one his hands -- there are two choices for props:
   
  • The first template comes from the story about Daedalus and Icarus -- Daedalus' mechanical invention should go in one of the hands.
  • The second choice comes from the story about Scylla and Nicos -- the seagull should go on one hand (or arm) and the lock of Nicos' red hair should go in the other hand.
• Optional:  Print out the cloak template.
   
  • Color and cut out the cloak.
  • Fold it in half and glue it so that it is colored on both sides.
  • Glue it onto the back of the toilet paper roll.

Templates:

• Close the template window after printing to return to this screen.
• Set page margins to zero if you have trouble fitting the template on one page (FILE, PAGE SETUP or FILE, PRINTER SETUP in most browsers).

Template 1 (Daedalus and Icarus):   (color)   or   (B&W)
or
Template 2 (Scylla and Nicos):        (color)   or   (B&W)

 

Optional Template for the cape:        (color)   or   (B&W)