Super Fun Craft for Kids: Cardboard Box Fortress

Mary Anne at Mama Smiles indeed makes me smile. She knows what it means to transform a cardboard box into… a washing machine or a fridge or a cupboard or even a playhouse. And what she does splendidly, is show you that “simple is best”. It doesn’t take much to convert a box and hey presto you have days of fun. We have a box standing around, with a door cut into it and a piece of string for a handle and both Red Ted and Pip Squeak ADORE playing and around it. As do the cats… Also, visit Fun on a Dime for yet another post on “The Power of the Box”!! Ever Free coloring

I have been busy all day cleaning up all our Christmas leftovers (wrappings, stuffing, and boxes) and pulling some of it aside for a few quick projects. I know this seems like a given, but every year we forget the power of the box and especially a Box Fort! Not only are they inexpensive, they are perfect for an indoor activity this time of year when it is rainy, snowy or just plain cold and not fun to be outside.

This year we had one good box and were able to snag a couple of other large boxes. We spent 10 minutes Christmas evening putting the Box Fort together and it has already provided hours of fun in the past day and a half! One tip for that worked really well for us, was to show my 4 year old son some pictures of Box Forts through a google image search. He was really upset when we first started breaking the boxes down and no amount of explaining helped as much as 30 seconds of looking at other Box Forts. He then was with the program. He  got his little brain going and started directing us on what to do! Rapunzel Coloring Pages

First, we wiped down the boxes with slightly damp rag to get off any thick dust…

Then we taped boxes together and got creative! Pretty simple, I know. But, the kids are having so much fun!  We did discover that taping vertical with smaller strips of tape over the edges when attaching 2 boxes together was much more effective than taping long stretches of tape vertically over both edges to secure them.

Don’t forget to cut out windows and doors! The kids requested a window on the roof. And a flashlight or two is always loads of fun, as well! I’m going to save ours for when they are starting to get bored with the fort!

There are lots of different styles and sizes that you can come up with. You do not have to have these super large boxes, we just got lucky finding them! Get creative and I would love to see your creations!