After the great pocket money debate, over the summer holiday the girls have started to earn a little money. A very exciting new thing for them, which meant on our recent trip to the zoo they had some of their own money to spend on a treat. So, we now have a family of wild animals in need of a home. On our return we transformed a humble cardboard box into not just a jungle, but a savanna and watering hole too. The hippo is very happy in her new home – and the play scene is giving the girls the chance for lots of imaginary play and chat.
How to make a jungle from a cardboard box
Cut down two sides of the cardboard box to open it out. We glued down some fine sandpaper on to the base to create the savanna (you could also sprinkle sand on to the wet glue). We weighed the sandpaper down with some books to it didn’t curl up at the edges as it was drying.
Stick green paper around the inside walls of the box and on the base at the back to create your jungle area. We used a sponge to print on extra shades of green for a really jungly look. (And a great tip picked up from Picklebums is to use a clothes peg to make the sponges much easier to hold.)
To create some extra jungle plants cut out shapes from card and paint them green. Fold the base, snip in the middle and fold the two halves in opposite directions and your plants will stand up.
So that’s how to make a jungle from a cardboard box, finished off with some blue card to make a watering hole.
You can find many more junk modelling ideas in our free ebook Glorious Junk!
Leave a Reply