Last week I was cutting out two circles – one for a giant spider and one for a shield for an Avengers costume out of a large cardboard box. When they were cut out I noticed that the rest of the box looked just like a tunnel. So rather than finish making the things we had started (or do something actually useful – like – tidy up a bit) I decided to make the girls a tunnel which they could crawl through instead.
With a hole either end the tunnel needed something to make it a bit stronger. I used lots of duct tape some silver and some checked across the bottom and the edges, which also improved the appearance. The girls had great fun crawling through the tunnel but after a while started wanting to use something to make a train. Of course making a cardboard box train is far more interesting than doing the washing up so I agreed it was a great idea.
We had a couple of old nappy boxes which I hadn’t got round to throwing away. They seemed the perfect size to fit comfortably under the tunnel. We also had some long tubes which were the insides of a roll of wrapping paper. See you should never throw anything away – just in case. We also used sticker, shiny paper plates and lots of different colours of duct tape. I couldn’t get a good shot of everything we used as Charlotte was very keen to grab the stickers.
The cardboard box trains were really easy to make. Instead of tape you could just paint them but tape is a bit quicker as you don’t have to wait for it to dry. Molly cut the plates for me and helped to come up with some of the ideas. We did tie some wool onto the front so that the girls could pull the trains along but they got annoyed with it and kept pulling it off. When it was finished it was time for the teddies to take a ride.
On the floor I stuck down two lines of silver duct tape as the train tracks. I thought the girls might enjoy rolling the little trains and cars along it, and set up a little train station for their smaller vehicles, but really they were more interested in the big trains. I think I will keep this idea for another day. I kept the duct tape on the floor running the whole length of the sitting room for about three days. When I pulled it up it hadn’t left a mark on the carpet so I was really pleased.
The cardboard box train was really only big enough for teddies but that didn’t stop the girls. They all had a turn in them and enjoyed being pushed through the tunnel. I was a bit worried Molly wouldn’t be able to get out though.
Rosie really enjoyed putting the teddies in and out of the carriages and pulling them about. She also put lots of other toys in there, it really didn’t have to be teddies.
Charlotte liked sitting in the cardboard box train and didn’t even want to come out for snack time. They all liked jumping on top of the tunnel too, unfortunately and it is now rather squashed.
If you love making things out of cardboard boxes like we do, then make sure you follow me on pinterest. I have a board dedicated to cardboard creations, which has some amazing projects made out of a cardboard box.