Welcome to our Cardboard Bungalow!
I did a fun little project with Sean over the weekend. We made a cardboard house!
I had a spare cardboard box which Sean has been bugging me to let him paint for the longest time.
I thought the box looked about the right dimensions for a house so I opened it up, turned it inside out (to give Sean a clean brown slate for painting) and taped it up again. For the roof, I cut out the front part of the box, folded it in half and taped it to the top of the box. Then, I cut and glued several smaller cardboard pieces to make a second storey and bedrooms. I also cut out a door to link the rooms. To make the insides look more presentable, I lined the interior walls of the house with brown craft paper. Finally, I cut holes for windows and a door.
I did everything with whatever I had at home (which will explain the awful-looking black duct tape) and all within an hour. Easy peasy!
Once ready, we moved all our dollhouse furniture and Lego people in.
Sean declared that it was our new house.
He decided that Mini-Sean, Mini-Ryan and another Mini-Baby Brother would sleep in the Boys' Room while Mini-Mama and Mini-Papa had the master bedroom solely to themselves. How nice. He stationed Mini-Kakak in the kitchen and he also let a bunch of unidentified free-loaders camp out in our new living room ;)
Sean had lots of fun making everyone take turns on the potty and peering through the windows and doors to see which room they opened to.
The house kept him occupied and out of my hair for a good part of the morning :)
Next day, we got down to painting the house.
I tossed Sean out on the patio with his paints and brushes. I drew some flowers on the house, big domed windows on the side, a mailbox (like in Blue's Clues, he noted excitedly), a white cat (Sean gave him the name Neighbour) and a swing for him to colour in. He had heaps of fun messing around and painting 'Ming-ming house'.
When he got bored and ran away, as any three-year-old with the attention span of a mouse is wont to do, I finished up the paint job for him.
We are still getting lots of play out of it. Best use of an unwanted cardboard box ever :)
PS. There was a lot more I could have done if Sean wasn't trying to crawl into the 'Ming-ming house' while I was wrestling with it with a very sharp pair of pen-knife. Some ideas: wallpaper the house with patterned paper, make curtains out of crepe paper, construct stairs or a fireman pole for people to slide down from the second floor, cut out slits for the mailbox, decorate with foam/felt flowers and trees, let him paste stickers. The possibilities are endless :)
PPS. Some other cardboard projects we have tried out: a cardboard 'Moster' and a zero-emissions car fueled by leg power.
PPPS. More inspiration for cardboard projects here. Check out this cardboard dollhouse that can open up and this out-of-the-world Barbie dollhouse with real lights and a working elevator - fwah, it makes our house look so shabby in comparison, haha!
I had a spare cardboard box which Sean has been bugging me to let him paint for the longest time.
I thought the box looked about the right dimensions for a house so I opened it up, turned it inside out (to give Sean a clean brown slate for painting) and taped it up again. For the roof, I cut out the front part of the box, folded it in half and taped it to the top of the box. Then, I cut and glued several smaller cardboard pieces to make a second storey and bedrooms. I also cut out a door to link the rooms. To make the insides look more presentable, I lined the interior walls of the house with brown craft paper. Finally, I cut holes for windows and a door.
I did everything with whatever I had at home (which will explain the awful-looking black duct tape) and all within an hour. Easy peasy!
Once ready, we moved all our dollhouse furniture and Lego people in.
Sean declared that it was our new house.
He decided that Mini-Sean, Mini-Ryan and another Mini-Baby Brother would sleep in the Boys' Room while Mini-Mama and Mini-Papa had the master bedroom solely to themselves. How nice. He stationed Mini-Kakak in the kitchen and he also let a bunch of unidentified free-loaders camp out in our new living room ;)
Sean had lots of fun making everyone take turns on the potty and peering through the windows and doors to see which room they opened to.
The house kept him occupied and out of my hair for a good part of the morning :)
Next day, we got down to painting the house.
I tossed Sean out on the patio with his paints and brushes. I drew some flowers on the house, big domed windows on the side, a mailbox (like in Blue's Clues, he noted excitedly), a white cat (Sean gave him the name Neighbour) and a swing for him to colour in. He had heaps of fun messing around and painting 'Ming-ming house'.
When he got bored and ran away, as any three-year-old with the attention span of a mouse is wont to do, I finished up the paint job for him.
We are still getting lots of play out of it. Best use of an unwanted cardboard box ever :)
PS. There was a lot more I could have done if Sean wasn't trying to crawl into the 'Ming-ming house' while I was wrestling with it with a very sharp pair of pen-knife. Some ideas: wallpaper the house with patterned paper, make curtains out of crepe paper, construct stairs or a fireman pole for people to slide down from the second floor, cut out slits for the mailbox, decorate with foam/felt flowers and trees, let him paste stickers. The possibilities are endless :)
PPS. Some other cardboard projects we have tried out: a cardboard 'Moster' and a zero-emissions car fueled by leg power.
PPPS. More inspiration for cardboard projects here. Check out this cardboard dollhouse that can open up and this out-of-the-world Barbie dollhouse with real lights and a working elevator - fwah, it makes our house look so shabby in comparison, haha!