Frosty the Snowman Emo Doll

How to make a Frosty the Snowman toilet paper roll doll, with changeable facial expressions to encourage emotional imaginative play. Fun winter-themed or Christmas activity for kids!

Remember the ‘naked’ Emo Dolls I made last week? Well, now they have a brand new set of ‘clothes’. (I don’t know if a snowman suit technically counts as clothes, but you know what I mean…)

And so, I’m pleased to introduce you to…. Frosty the Emo Doll!

I had so much fun making him! Want to see how?

How to make a Frosty the Snowman toilet paper roll doll

You need:

a toilet paper roll (or other cardboard tube of similar diameter)
white acrylic paint
black and red felt
hot glue gun
scissors
inner facial expressions tube (see our tutorial here)

I cut a circle out of the toilet paper roll where the face would be, and then painted the rest of the roll white. I then made the little hat and scarf with scrap felt and a hot glue gun.

The hat doesn’t have to look perfect – snowmen hats are supposed to look a bit dishevelled – which is lucky as my 14 month old daughter Bee had lots of fun trying to pull the hat off, adding to the dishevelled look!

Bee is starting to interact with dolls. She says ‘Mah’ and gives them a kiss. She can also ‘walk’ them along the ground.

We had some Play Snow left over from last week, so Frosty enjoyed a little snow play in our backyard.

To give Frosty a face, I used one of the inner rolls with the facial expressions that I’d made earlier. The idea is that kids can change Frosty’s facial expression, and in this way, they can learn about emotions and empathy while they are playing.

Here is my eldest daughter JJ (3.5 years old) choosing which facial expression Frosty would ‘wear’ that day.

She chose an angry face, and started to role play a scene similar to one that had occurred at a supermarket play area the day before.

JJ said “He’s a mean snowman Mummy. He’s still learning how to be nice.”

“Oh, is he not playing nicely? What are you going to say?” I asked.

“I don’t like that. Let’s play a fun game instead.”

Inwardly I was grinning. Teaching JJ that most kids are not innately ‘mean’, that they sometimes need help to learn how to play nicely, that she can stand up for herself by saying “I don’t like that” and that she can encourage a change in play is something we’ve been working on. The above conversation mimicked almost exactly a situation that JJ faced the day prior, where there was a young boy who was playing slightly rough. JJ stood up for herself, and managed to change the play dynamic, and the two went on to play happily together for ages.

Later JJ changed Frosty’s facial expression to this dollar sign one. (I don’t think she knows what the dollar signs means, she just saw this as a fun face.)

And then JJ sprinkled the play snow, to make a little flurry! She made it snow on Bee too, who though it was a marvellous idea. Umm, Mummy’s doesn’t agree. Careful not to get it in anyone’s eyes!

In all, lots of snowy role play fun for a sunny Aussie summer’s day…

And to finish up, I couldn’t resist slipping in this little Dad Mum joke. It’s one of my favourites at the moment. 🙂