How to Make Hamster and Gerbil Toys

Is your hamster looking bored, or your gerbil shredding its cage? Once you’ve learned how to make hamster toys, by reusing materials you’d otherwise throw away, your small pets will have plenty to keep themselves entertained with. Get inspired by our hamster cage ideas, including how to make a DIY hamster house, and you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you’ve made your small pets happy with your own crafting skills.

Ready to learn how to create a beautiful adventure playground, maze and house, all while doing your bit for the environment and circular economy? We thought so! Have fun with the kids making these easy DIY hamster toys and boredom busters for your small pets using empty Cushelle toilet rolls, kitchen roll tubes and empty Cushelle tissue boxes. Let’s get started.

tissue box maze | toilet roll playground | DIY hamster house

How to make a tissue box maze DIY hamster toy

If your hamster or gerbil is looking bored, then make this fun maze to keep them happy and stimulated for hours on end. DIY hamster toys like this are perfect for hiding treats around some of the corners!

Takes about 1.5 hours

1. Neatly cut away the fronts of two of the tissue boxes with scissors. Then glue them side-by-side and leave them to dry.
2. Ask the kids to paint the outside of the boxes. Get the kids to wipe up any spillages with some moistened kitchen paper while you wait for them to dry.
3. Now plan out your maze by drawing the position of the walls inside the bottom of the joined tissue boxes with a pencil.
4. Cut open and flatten the third tissue box. Cut rectangular strips of card for the maze walls and bend them into shape.
5. Position the walls in the bottom of the tissue boxes and stick them in place with glue. Leave them to dry.
6. Carefully cut an entry and exit hole in the sides of the joined tissue boxes, and also in the inner wall if required. Then add bright spots of paint with a straw around the maze, and leave to dry.

Homemade hamster toys: toilet roll playground

Turn old Cushelle toilet roll tubes into a colourful adventure playground for small pets with this fun and easy idea. When you make these hamster cage ideas with recycled packaging, you can pat yourself on the back for doing your bit for the environment too.

Takes 45 minutes

1. First, measure the empty toilet roll tubes and cut rectangular pieces of paper to cover them.
2. Next, add a little glue to the ends of the pieces of paper, and then neatly wrap them around the toilet roll tubes.
3. Rest the end of one roll in the middle of another, and stick in place with a hot glue gun. Repeat this to glue a second pair together.
4. Place the last toilet roll across the middle of the two pairs, and stick in place with the hot glue gun.

How to make a DIY hamster house

Make our Swiss-style chalet for your small pets to cosy up in – and gnaw – using empty Cushelle toilet rolls, paper towel tubes and an empty Cushelle tissue box.

1. First take the toilet roll tubes and carefully glue together in pairs with a hot glue gun. You will need a pair for each of the side walls, and two pairs for the front of the house.
2. Next, glue two of the kitchen roll tubes together to make the back wall of the house. Now, place the walls together, leaving an opening at the front, and glue in place.
3. Glue a toilet roll tube across the doorway, and one in the middle of the back wall.
4. Cut open and flatten the empty tissue box. Draw a rectangular shaped roof with scalloped sides, and cut out.
5. To make a chimney, draw a diagonal line on the front and back of the last toilet roll tube, and carefully cut it out with a craft knife.
6. Fold the roof in half and glue to the top of the house. Stick the chimney on one side, and fill with scrunched up soft tissue.

These homemade rabbit toys and homemade hamster toys tick off two boxes – they’re a fun activity for you and the kids to enjoy doing together, and they’re the gift that keeps on giving for your precious small pets. And when your baby rabbit outgrows their house or your hamster’s chewed theirs to bits, you can still recycle most of what’s left behind too!