cardboard box : car

Moo loves pretending to drive her dad's car so I decided to make her own cardboard car to have in the garage with keys, dashboard, working streering wheel and all.

YOU WILL NEED:

1 small cardboard box 

1 large cardboard box

several coloured bottle top lids

1 5cm long screw

2 washers

toilet roll

glue gun

spare keyring

paper tape

paints and pens to decorate

1. Firstly turn boxes inside out if you are recycling old boxes like I am. The small box is you bonnet, the large box your main part of the car. Join the 2 boxes together, using the flap to create an angled windshield down on to your bonnet. Cut the sides to fit the shape and tape up all your joins.

2. Cut out a rectangle for your windshield and the top of the box for where you want to sit, and doors. Mark out with a ruler if you want nice straight lines.

3. To make the dashboard - using a spare piece of the cardboard cut a piece the width of your car. Cut out your steering wheel shape, make a hole in the centre of you steering wheel with a sharp pencil. Mark the place on the dashboard you want attach this, make hole with pencil. Cut a 3cm length from your toilet roll for your steering column. Glue to the underside of your steering wheel. Place one washer on your screw and push through the hole on your steering wheel and through the dashboard hole, attach 2nd washer and glue in place on back of dashboard. Your steering wheels should turn. Glue a bottle lid on your steering for horn and to cover screw end. Glue more bottle lids for buttons and decorations onto your dashboard. Tape the dash board into your car so it sits below the windshield, and so there is room your little ones legs to fit underneath.

4. Cut out different key shapes for your house and car and attach to the keyring.

5. Cut 4 equals circles for your wheels, decorate and stick to sides of the car using glue gun. Cut strips for front grill and circles for you headlights and glue in place.

6. Paint and decorate your car.... VROOM VROOM!

cardboard box: doll's bed

I'd been thinking about getting bed for Moo's doll when I realised I had the prefect sized box. so why not make one?

Moo and I carefully removed all the regular packing tape and replaced with gummed tape so that it matched the box and would be possible for moo to decorate or paint if she wanted too. I remembered about gummed tape from my childhood, it looks like brown paper but has an adhesive side and gums up when water is applied (you can get it at art shops).

We then cut the bed head and ends with slots,  we chose to make it look similar to Moo's bed, but you could cut any decorative shape

Cut away the sides off the box and use these to cut out the legs of the bed. We cut small slits in the bed base  for the legs to slot into. taped to secure. 

Then I finished it off by making a little doll size crochet blanket. 

Moo says "ssshh.... Red Riding Hood is sleeping."

cardboard box : sorting box

Since Mima was born we have been getting our fruit and vegetables delivered by a company called Ooooby (Out Of Our Own Back Yard). They provide boxes of seasonal fruit and vegetables straight from the grower to you at a reasonable price. You receive details of where everything was grown, whether it is organic and recipe suggestions. It has been brilliant with a young baby to look after and now  feeding.
With all these boxes, I was inspired by Moo's castle and wondered what could I make for a one year old? I thought a sorting/posting box, with cut out shapes to match her toys would be cool and I was right she loves it! I think the fact that she can post her toys which she knows and loves makes this even more appealing.

I started with the rectangular Ooooby box.

Traced the outline of some of her toys and cut the shapes out.

I painted the edges of these cut outs in bright colours to accentuate them and make the box look fun.

cardboard box: castle

FIT FOR A PRINCESS

To be honest when we embarked on this project I didn't have much of a plan, just that I wanted to make a cardboard box play castle that Moo could help with and decorate. 

We started off with two large cardboard boxes that I glued onto a large sheet of card. We cut an internal door to join them together. Moo helped draw the shapes to cut the windows and doors. 

We spent a few days painting, making flags and bunting to decorate.

It 's nicely located in our garage which is perfect place to play with her friends on wet rainy days when we can't really get outside and are sick of being stuck indoors. 

 It's now a cardboard box fit for a little princess or two.