Build a Cardboard Model Castle

For kids who love fantasy and playing with models, this is the perfect craft. Full of imaginative play potential, this miniature castle is sure to keep your kid occupied and happy for hours. And the best part? Excluding the art supplies, it's made entirely of recycled materials! This is a great way to show him how fun and easy green crafts can be, and that you don't have to go to the store or pay a lot of money for fun, quality toys—everything you need is right at your fingertips.

What You Need:

• Shoe box
• Empty toilet paper rolls
• Scissors or X-acto knife
• Gray tempera paint or Fleck Stone spray paint (if you plan to make a drawbridge, you might want to have brown paint as well)
• Paint brush
• Markers
• Extra craft materials for making props for the castle such as fabric scraps, toothpicks, an old business card, etc. (optional)

What You Do:

1. Have your child cut notches in the tops of the toilet paper rolls to make them look like castle towers.
2. Cut two slits in the bottoms of the toilet paper rolls to about halfway up the roll, placing them 90 degrees apart from each other.
3. Cut slits in the shoe box about ¾” in from each corner of the box, making one slit on either side of each corner. For each slit, start cutting at the top edge and continue about halfway down the side.
4. Help him insert one toilet paper roll into each corner of the shoe box, fitting the slits together.
5. To make a door for the castle, ask him to carefully cut out a rectangle from the side of the shoe box with scissors or an X-acto knife. If he likes, he can make it open like a drawbridge by leaving the bottom of the door uncut. He can also add windows by cutting squares or rectangles into the sides of the box.
6. Now it's time to paint. Invite him to paint the castle any way he likes using the gray tempera paint or Fleck Stone spray paint. Paint the outside of the shoe box as well as the toilet paper tube towers. If he made a drawbridge, have him paint it brown. Let the paint dry.
7. Once the paint is dry, add extra details with the markers. Try drawing a stone pattern on the castle with a black marker to make it look like it's made of stone, or drawing a border around the top of the castle and towers.
8. Finish the castle by adding extra decorative details. If you have fabric scraps and a few toothpicks, try making colorful flags to attach to the castle. Just cut out a few triangles of fabric and glue a toothpick to each one, then glue or tape them to the castle. Another idea is to turn an old business card into a welcome mat. There's no end to the little details he can add to his castle; encourage him to be creative and look around the house for things he can repurpose into a castle prop!