- Age:4+
- Time:1 hr
- Difficulty:Easy
- Mess level:Medium
- Supervision:Yes
History of the Christmas Tree
Evergreen trees have a long history as a symbol of endurance and everlasting life. Winter solstice is a day when the day is the shortest and the night is the longest. Around that time we all need that extra reassurance that spring will come again.
From ancient times there have been different rituals with precisely this purpose. Waiting for a new birth of nature. Egyptians, Norse, and Romans all had their version of the festivities. Celebrating the enduring of the winter and pleading for the spring to come back. Fir Trees were decorated in the North for centuries.
Decorating evergreens is a tradition much older than Christmas itself.
But the tradition of decorating a tree inside originates in Germany. Martin Luther, a Protestant reformer, is credited with the idea of bringing the tree inside the home during Christmas in the 16th century.
The legend goes that on Christmas Eve he was walking through the forest. And he was amazed by the sight of the stars twinkling through the trees. He decided to recreate this image at his home by decorating a tree in honor of Christ’s birth.
The custom spread through Europe and later America when the newspapers published the image of the British Queen Victoria with her husband Prince Albert standing next to the decorated Christmas tree.
In the past, trees were mostly decorated with edible things, like apples and gingerbread cookies. With time, glassmakers started to make shiny decorations from glass that people used to decorate the tree.
Nowadays, decorating a tree is one of the hallmarks of Christmas, and people all around the world are doing it. Most trees are decorated with flashing lights, baubles, and tinsel. Also, homemade decorations are still very popular for unique tree decorations. We will join them by making our own Christmas tree from the toilet rolls.
Materials needed for Toilet Roll Christmas Tree
Toilet rolls, paper, glue and scissors: the whole Christmas tree kit.
With some Toilet Paper Rolls, Hot glue and green color, we can make some amazing looking tree.
- Toilet paper rolls. Depending on the size of the tree you want to build, you will need a different number of toilet paper rolls. We needed 21 rolls to create a small tree perfect for the table. We made the first row out of 6 paper rolls and every level above is made with one less paper roll. You can calculate the total amount of the rolls needed with this formula: n * (n + 1) / 2, where n is the number of rolls used for the first row. So in our case, we needed 21 rolls (6 * 7 / 2). Take 2 more rolls for the trunk of the tree.
- Hot glue. We will need some glue to connect our toilet rolls into an evergreen tree shape. Hot glue is excellent for that but you can use any other stronger glue that can hold the cardboard.
- Christmas Tree Decorations. Here you can be creative and use any decorations you want. Small Christmas balls, bead chain, lamps, custom made decorations, anything you want to decorate your tree.
- Green paint. We want our Tree to be green and since the toilet rolls are gray, we will need to color them. Acrylic paint or Tempera paint is best for this but even colored pencils can do the job.
- Brush, Cup, and Water. If you’re using Tempera or Acrylic paint, you will also need some brush to color your toilet rolls. But that will be the fastest way to transform your soon-to-be tree to green color.
- Paper Clips. Maybe you won’t need them but we found them invaluable to put Christmas balls on our tree. This way we didn’t need any thread but we managed to attach balls on the cardboard with paper clips.
Instructions on how to make the Christmas tree from the toilet rolls
👨👧 Adult supervision needed
This tree needs a lot of glue joints, and a hot glue gun runs at around 150 °C - the glue stays hot enough to burn for several seconds after it leaves the nozzle. Keep the gun in adult hands, let each joint set before your child presses the rolls together, and have cool water nearby just in case. Younger children can still do most of this craft: painting the rolls and decorating are the fun parts anyway, and ordinary strong craft glue works too if you'd rather skip the gun. Do the painting in a ventilated spot and let the rolls dry fully before gluing.
For step by step instructions on how to make it, watch the video at the beginning of the article!
- Color the toilet paper rolls you’ll use for the tree with the green paint. Leave the 2 rolls you’ll use for the trunk uncolored (or use brown color if you wish).
- Make the first row of the tree by gluing several paper rolls together. We used 6 toilet paper rolls for the first row.
- For every row above, you’ll need one less roll. Put toilet paper rolls in the middle of the rolls below. Glue the roll to the bottom two toilet paper rolls and to the roll next to it in the same row.
- Repeat step 3 until you glue the last 1 roll on the top.
- Glue the 2 leftover rolls together. This is a trunk! Attach it to the bottom of the tree, in the middle, so the tree can stand on it.
- Decorate the tree as you wish! We used paper clips to attach Christmas balls on each roll. And gold bead chain as the final touch.
The math hiding in your tree
That formula in the materials list, n × (n + 1) / 2, deserves a name, because it's one of the loveliest things in elementary math and your child just built it out of cardboard.
Look at the tree: 6 rolls, then 5, then 4, 3, 2, 1. To get the total you add 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 = 21. Numbers you get this way - 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28 - are called triangular numbers, for the obvious reason that stacking that many things makes a triangle. Your tree is the picture of the number 21.
Before you compute anything, ask your child to predict and let them count it out the slow way first:
If the bottom row has 8 rolls (then 7, 6, 5... up to 1), how many rolls does the whole tree need?
Make your prediction, then tap an answer to check!
Why the shortcut works
Here's the trick, and it's worth showing rather than telling. Write the rows out: 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6. Now write them backwards underneath: 6 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1. Add each pair top to bottom - every single pair makes 7. There are 6 pairs, so 6 × 7 = 42, and that's counted the tree twice, so the real answer is 42 / 2 = 21. That's exactly n × (n + 1) / 2.
Legend says a schoolboy named Carl Friedrich Gauss worked this out when his teacher told the class to add up every number from 1 to 100, expecting a quiet hour. Gauss saw the pairs and answered 5050 almost immediately. He grew up to be one of the greatest mathematicians who ever lived - and your child just used his trick to count toilet rolls.
What will you develop and learn by making Toilet Roll Christmas tree?
- Creativity
- Hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills
- Talk about the importance of recycling and ecology
- Paper comes from the trees!
- Math skills - learning and using the formula for summing numbers from 1 to n
Key takeaways
- A toilet roll Christmas tree is a recycled craft: paint the rolls green, stack them in rows, and glue them into a triangle with a two-roll trunk.
- Each row has one less roll than the one below (6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1), so the total is a triangular number.
- The number of rolls follows the formula n × (n + 1) / 2, where n is the rolls in the bottom row (6 rolls → 21; 8 rolls → 36).
- That shortcut works by pairing the first and last numbers - the trick a young Carl Friedrich Gauss famously used to add 1 to 100.
- It's a great mix of recycling, fine motor skills, and real math - just keep the hot glue gun in adult hands.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many toilet rolls do you need for a Christmas tree?
It depends on the size. Our table-top tree used 21 rolls for the tree plus 2 for the trunk. Use the formula n × (n + 1) / 2, where n is the number of rolls in the bottom row: 6 rolls gives 21, 7 gives 28, and 8 gives 36.
How do you make a Christmas tree out of toilet rolls?
Paint the rolls green and let them dry. Glue a bottom row (say 6 rolls) side by side, then stack each row above with one less roll, nestled in the gaps. Add a two-roll trunk underneath so it stands, then decorate with baubles and beads.
What are triangular numbers?
Triangular numbers are the totals you get by adding 1 + 2 + 3 and so on: 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28... They're called triangular because stacking that many objects forms a triangle - exactly like the rows of rolls in this tree.
What is the formula for adding the numbers 1 to n?
The sum of all whole numbers from 1 to n is n × (n + 1) / 2. For example, 1 to 6 is 6 × 7 / 2 = 21. It works because you can pair the numbers from the outside in, and every pair adds up to the same total.
What glue works best for toilet roll crafts?
A hot glue gun holds the rolls firmly and sets fast, but it gets hot enough to burn, so keep it in adult hands. Ordinary strong craft glue or PVA also works well if you'd rather skip the gun - it just needs a little longer to set.
Where did the Christmas tree tradition come from?
Decorating evergreens as a symbol of endurance is ancient, but bringing a tree indoors at Christmas began in 16th-century Germany, often credited to Martin Luther. The custom spread across Europe and America after newspapers pictured Queen Victoria and Prince Albert beside a decorated tree.
For more festive activities, we recommend you to take a shot at making Christmas Reindeer. If you would rather bring something in from a walk in the woods, try our pinecone Christmas tree. Or check some other creative pursuits like making a cardboard castle. In any case, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy new year!
