Gather together...
1 loo roll tube.
Green paint(s) - a mixture of dark and light greens makes a scaly-skin effect.
Paintbrush.
Newspaper to protect your table.
Glue (for eyes, teeth and flames) - I like the Coccoina glue tin as it is a plastic-free alternative to Pritt Stick (but it contains traces of almond nuts and the teeny-tiny brush has pig-bristle hairs, so it isn't suitable for everyone).
Brown paper tape (to secure wings, tail and flames).
2 paper eyes (NOT plastic googly eyes please if you are being planet conscious) - cut out white paper circles by hand or raid your (or your workplace's) hole-punch for paper discs and draw the black pupils on with black biro (specifically a biro pen so the eyes don't run if touched by gluey / wet fingers).
White paper cut into a long strip 20cm long x 1.5 cm wide, with one of the long edges zig-zagged for teeth.
Fiery scraps of tissue paper (we used red, orange and yellow in each dragon flame).
Green card to make wings and a tail (or paint plain card green).
To make your dragon...
Begin by painting the loo roll tube green (a mixture of shades of green paint give a scaly effect) and then let it dry in a warm / sunny place for at least 2 hours.
Once the paint is fully dry, stick on the eyes (cut-out paper circles / hole-punch waste discs, with biro-drawn pupils).
Now work out how long the strip of teeth needs to be - by wrapping the zig zagged strip around the outside of the tube, before cutting it to the right length. Then stick the shortened length of teeth onto your dragon - either inside or outside of the tube (your child will also have a firm opinion about this no doubt!)
Glue the scraps of fiery tissue paper inside the dragon's mouth and (if needed) with brown tape (which will be hidden inside the tube).
Cut out a green curved semi circle with a jagged holly-leaf like edge for the wings and a 15cm x 1cm strip (with a diamond at the end) for the tail. Attach the wings with folded-over-to-make-double-sided-tape brown tape (you can place the wings either on top or below the dragon - as your child prefers). Use the brown tape inside the tube to attach the tail.
Then try swooshing the dragon around and roaring to check that all of the bits are firmly attached!
Once your dragon has come to the end of its natural life, put the cardboard tube which has paint on in your general waste bin (as painted-on card / paper cannot be recycled as the water content of the paint damages the fibres of the material). The non-painted on bits of cardboard / paper can go into your kerbside recycling.
On the subject of loo roll, if you'd like to read about toilet roll alternatives (reusable loo roll) and also about traditional loo roll which can be purchased plastic-free, then please do take a look at my blog post.
Happy dragon-crafting!