What better way to spend a cold, rainy day than creating a fun, useful and kid friendly DIY project? When it comes to kids and projects I’m kind of a picky Mom. I’m not one for anything that makes a huge mess i.e. glitter, sawdust, paint overflow, mud, etc. Thank God for Dad! I came across these fire starters years ago on Pinterest. While there are infinite ways to make fire starters I was drawn to these because they didn’t require anything dipped, melted, or soaked and I had all the materials on hand. When it comes to newspapers and toilet paper rolls, I’m your gal. I bet you even have everything you need in your house to make these fire starters, too. It took just a few days of intentional collecting to get enough of everything I needed for the kids to each take a crack at making a few. We tested them out and found they actually work! I began packing a couple with us to take camping. I even created a “lint only” wastebasket in our laundry room and a “tube collection” tub underneath the kitchen sink.
Materials:
Newspaper
Empty toilet paper or paper towel roll or paperboard tube
Dryer lint
Twine or string
Loosely stuff your toilet paper tube with the dryer lint. Fold a large page of newspaper in half, long end to long end. Now, there will be a top end and bottom to your fire starter. Lay the paper flat and place your stuffed tube at one end with the long side of the tube along the shortest side or your newspaper. Leave about an inch of paper below one end of your toilet paper roll and begin rolling it up. As you do so, fold in the bottom inch of the paper to secure the contents of the tube, think “burrito”. As you roll along, fold the bottom paper on an angle until the tube is all rolled up in the paper. You’ll notice you have excess paper at the top of your roll, we’re going to secure this end with twine or string. I like to tie it off as close to the top of the toilet paper roll as possible so I have a nice big paper section to set on fire. Once you’ve tied it off, you’re complete.
Now, if you’re feeling adventurous and you happen to have a lot of leftover candles around, you can make these fire starters water proof by dipping them in melted candle wax. I tried it and it works, but I did that step without the kids. I just stored my fire starters in a ziplock bag and that worked just fine to keep them protected from the elements.
To use: place the fire starter in your fire ring, add tinder and kindling then light the long paper end. Our favorite part was watching the “poof” of fame as it reached the inner lint.
Hints:
Don’t cram the lint in, it won’t be able to get air and ignite
Use an all natural string or twine to avoid any off putting smells when lit
Save your Huckleberry Press Newspapers for future fire starters.
Do you have a favorite homemade project that you’d like to share with our readers? Send it to elizabeth@huckleberrypress.com for a chance to see it in an upcoming issue.
