I love working on cardboard crafts for kids – cardboard is one of the best materials out there. It’s versatile, cheap, and readily available. Cardboard crafts are also easy for little hands to manipulate and super sturdy so they can really play with their creations. Depending on the type of box (cereal, Amazon, refrigerator box, etc), you can make a wide variety of items. A simple box can be reimagined as a house, a mask, blocks, and so much more. The possibilities are endless.
What kinds of cardboard crafts can I make with my kids?
Here are five awesome cardboard crafts to get your creative juices flowing:
For imaginative play:
- Cardboard box house – The easiest and greatest old school project ever. You need is a large cardboard box, markers, and a few other craft supplies such as glue, tape, and paints. Turn the box on its side so that the open end can be used as the door to your house. Next, let your child draw, paint, and decorate it as they wish. That’s it. Your child will happily play in their house for hours.
- Mailbox and postcards – This is fun on its own, or as part of the box house. All you need is a shoe box with a lid, a couple of sheets of cardstock, scissors, a glue stick, and crayons/ markers. Cut a 1 x 6-inch slot in the shoebox lid, and decorate the shoe box as your mailbox. Print out our play mail template onto cardstock. If your printer doesn’t accommodate cardstock, print the template onto regular paper and glue it down on cardstock. Cut out the play letters and decorate.
- Costumes – Sheets of cardboard are great for making sandwich board style costumes, masks, helmets, and hand held props.
For a super quick and easy project:
- Treasure box – Use an interesting shape box, such as a heart shaped candy box or a round hat box to store special treasures. Kids can decorate with paint, stickers, colored paper, whatever is around the house.
- Musical instruments – Oatmeal canisters make great instruments. They can be decorated and used as-is as a drum, or filled with a handful of dried beans (seal the lid on with packing tape) and used as a shaker.
All of these crafts are simple to make and young kids will be able to be help with most tasks. When finished, you will love seeing how proud they are using something they made with their own hands.
These are just a few of the many fun and creative cardboard crafts that you can make with your child. With a little imagination and some creativity, there’s no limit to what you can make out of cardboard. Now let’s grab some boxes and make something fun!
