Turn Your Recycle Bin Items Into a Sweet Play Village!
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This little play village, which I made for Flow Magazine, is a version of the one I made in our book, which was inspired by one I made with my boys for a Christmas decoration for our mantle many years ago. Recycle bin items are the BEST craft materials, and especially now. Your kids can bring life to their village with toys like train tracks, cars, and animals! Extra credit: stick a battery-operated tea light into your buildings and houses! (see below for details). Also, check out our GIANT box town, made from recycled delivery boxes!
RECYCLED BOX VILLAGE
what you need:
- assorted empty boxes and containers, such as milk cartons or cereal and cracker boxes
- craft knife
- hot glue and glue gun
- pencil
- scissors
- gesso (white acrylic primer) or white acrylic paint
- paintbrushes
- acrylic craft paint or poster paint
- straws (optional)
- wax paper
- double sided tape
- battery-operated tea lights (optional)
- green water balloons (optional, for trees)
- recycled cardboard tubes, like from a roll of gift wrap or aluminum foil (optional, for trees)
1. Hot glue all open box flaps shut, unless you plan on making pitched (pointy) roofs. Use the craft knife to cut the bottoms open. Prime the boxes with gesso. Let dry and paint a color.
2. To make a pitched roof, use a craft knife to lengthen the side flaps of the box to your desired roof length by carefully cutting a few inches down the all four corners (as on left). The side flaps will become the roof. Make a new fold to bend these flaps down so they meet and hot glue the top edges together. Trace this roof angle onto the inside of the front and back of the box and cut it with scissors. Add glue to the open seams.
3. Cut scrap cardboard into templates for windows and doors and trace them onto the house. Using the craft knife carefully cut out the shapes. Paint snow drifts onto the windows, door, and roof.
4. Cut short pieces of straws for chimneys. For pitched roofs, cut the straw at an angle. Hot glue the chimneys to the roofs.
5. Cut a piece of wax paper large enough to cover all the window openings. Add tape to the edges of the wax paper. Slide the wax paper into the house and use a pencil if needed to press the paper to the inside walls. Optional: place one or two battery-operated tea lights in each house.
6. To make trees, cut off short lengths of the cardboard tube for “trunks”. Inflate a few water balloons and tie them off and place each, knot side down, into a tube.
I hope you try this! And please tag me at @supermakeit so I can see all of your creations!!