One of the favourite things we’ve ever done is to make our own cardboard box house. We had a box left over from a house move but any will do as long as it’s sturdy. Even better if your child can fit in it, but you can make teddy a home if yours is smaller.
Assuming your box is the type with four flaps at each end which fold over to close: Fasten up one end using glue or sticky tape. At the other end, cut off two of the flaps (top and bottom) leaving two (right and left) to be your front door. Cut out a letter box – so your child can deliver letters to the house – and two windows. You can cut a small square out of the roof and use a folded up strip from the discarded flap to make a chinmey – very important, as my daughter pointed out, so Father Christmas can get in! Paint the walls and roof in your favourite colours (we used a few coats of poster paint) and add some pictures such as a climbing rose or a cat sat by the door. Put your house number on the front. You can make a simple curtain by hemming a piece of fabric and threading a piece of elastic through the hem. Make two holes either side of the top of the window and thread the elastic through – knot it to hold in place.
A unique toy with hours of play – home sweet home!
Happily shared with Today’s Creative Blog.
A roll of wallpaper – either a leftover from decorating at home, or bought cheaply from the DIY store roll-ends bin, provides a great canvass for your child’s artwork. The scale of the wallpaper roll lends itself very well to drawing a landscape, such as a beach picture. Or create a street which you can drive toy cars a long. Another fun idea is to have your child lie down on the wall paper and then draw round them to get a child-size outline. You can then colour them in – copying what they are actually wearing or making up a fantstic imaginary outfit.
A quick and simple way to enhance a plain brick wall in your garden is to create a chalk target to throw balls at. Your child can have fun trying to hit the bull’s eye and develop their hand / eye co-ordination. Playing against someone else encourages turn-taking, and they can learn numbers and simple adding up if they keep score. And of course, the target is easy to remove when the game is finished.
