Sometimes we have an excess of commonplace materials lying around the house just begging to be thrown away. Too often we do throw those items away because of the clutter they cause and how useless they’ve become.
However, sometimes it’s better to repurpose some old, mundane items. People create some pretty extraordinary things out of ordinary items, so why couldn’t you, too?
Well, cardboard boxes are one of those everyday materials that we find just sitting in a corner of the house fairly often. Rather than relegate them to the same old storage use as always, why not try getting a little crafty as a bonding experience with your kids? We’ve come up with a few interesting ways to use cardboard for artsy projects. Give them a try!
The classic cardboard house.
This one never gets old. Of course, you’ll need some furniture boxes or home appliance boxes for these to be big enough for your kids to inhabit for the day. But it’ll help create the same experience for your kid that you once felt when you were their age.
Get fun with these! Don’t just draw on windows with marker from the outside. Cut out square holes, create a “door” by reusing the door cutout (and even giving it a “hinge”). Even painting the entire outside could make it seem far more imaginative and fun for your kids. Plain brown cardboard houses are boring. Spice it up with some color.
As a bonus, throw a small rug of some sort inside to make it seem like carpet for your kids.
Diorama.
I remember doing this as a school project in elementary school. And while it seemed specific to school, it was one of the neatest projects I remember doing.
A lot of the time, old shoeboxes work for smaller dioramas. But slightly bigger cardboard boxes could increase the possibilities of such a project. The thing about dioramas, though, is that you have to get creative with other household items. Cotton balls worked well as clouds or fog, sticks from outside made fantastic trees. While going to your local arts and crafts store would likely yield much more useful items, try to get your creative juices going and round up a bevvy of weird, useless things around your house.
Just remember . . .
Be creative! These two ideas aren’t much, but you can do so much with cardboard. While boxes are one commonplace item, you want to extend on that idea and gather as much as you can in other everyday resources to really make the most out of your cheap (or free!) project.