How to make a town from recycled boxes

The other week we finally decided to do something with all the boxes we have been saving and made a mini town with them. It was a fun activity that took a few days to do and it's actually still not 100% finished so I'm sure we will keep adding to it. 

Here's how you can make your own.

Supplies:

- lots of boxes; crackers, cereal, milk cartons, etc.

- primer

- paint brushes and rollers

- tape

- paints

- markers

- toilet paper rolls

- construction paper

- stickers

First we taped up all the boxes. 

Then we primed the boxes with rollers, 

and brushes. I have an old drop cloth (a shower curtain) we used under to save the table and wore painting t-shirts.

Here are all our boxes drying.

Then I set them up on the hutch to see how they would all look together.

Now comes the painting. I had a few bottles of bright coloured acrylic paint and thought they would be fun to use.

After 2 coats of paint, they look great.

I then thought the town needed some trees.  First I made a big pine tree from a paper towel tube and 2 tone green construction paper. 

I cut some wedge shaped pieces and rolled them around a crayon to give them some volume.  

And here`s the cute tree.

The top is a circle wrapped into a cone with little curls on it.

Then we made smaller trees. Cut toilet paper rolls and add slits on the sides. I cut tree top shape and added stickers to make an apple tree and flower bush.

With the boxes we added windows and doors and named some of the towers.

I cut squares out of white paper and we glued them on for windows and permanent markers to add details.

I cut out the doors with an xacto knife and added a handle by putting a small piece of pipecleaner through the door so it can easily be opened and closed.

As we were making the town the girls asked why we were doing this, as it who`s going to live here. I thought the girls mini Lalaloopsy`s would be a great fit. And they are, each girl has their own building to live in.

Isla thought the girls needed sleds, so I made a few for them to race in.

It was a lot of fun to make and play with. It`s always fun when a craft can be used. 

It`s funny while I make things with the girls I have to remember to let go and that it doesn`t need to be perfect. Lilo reminded me of that while we were putting the windows on the houses, ``Mom, it`s our craft``.

So I backed off and let them do their thing and they love it.

And the other bonus of this project as it was free, I didn`t have to buy anything for it.