Wow, there are many ways for families to Upcycle cardboard into fun crafts and items for kids to play with.
Cardboard fun is endless because of the opportunities it creates for you to use your imagination and go wild.
As parents, we quickly learned that sometimes all our kids really want or need is empty cardboard boxes. Have you ever noticed how often your child will have more fun with the box than with the gift itself?
When your kids reach the older baby stage, a simple box and different items to put inside and take out can be an enjoyable activity. As they grow older, you can expand on the activities you can do with cardboard boxes.
Toddlers can have a lot of fun playing in a large cardboard box, which can be transformed into endless play opportunities.
Upcycling cardboard, like shipping boxes, can be an enjoyable family project where you can let your creativity run wild. Make amazing crafts, playthings, and more by using cardboard in new and interesting ways.
Most diy projects that you make with cardboard may require a few craft supplies like a razor or knife, some type of paint or colors, tape, and other objects to decorate with.
Can cardboard be upcycled? Yes, most definitely you can upcycle cardboard and then recycle it when finished with it.
One of the easy ways to teach kids about the environment and what environmental impact we as a person can have on the earth is to show them how you can upcycle cardboard and other items. You can show your kids how they can reuse cardboard in many fun ways. When they are done with it then you show them how to recycle it. This will start a foundation or understanding of upcycling and recycling.
Teaching kids how to do little things like upcycling/recycling can become a habit/routine that they can carry on through their lives.
Upcycled cardboard boxes and other materials can help you save money. Instead of spending a lot of money on store-bought toys, you can use cardboard and other recyclable items to make your own toys. Take a look in your recycle bin and collect everything that can be used to create toys.
What can cardboard be upcycled into?
Cardboard is an easy multi-purpose material that can be used to create a variety of things for kids, adults, and the home. Children can use it to make toys, cardboard crafts, and games, while adults can utilize it to craft organizational storage containers. Additionally, cardboard can be used by both kids and adults to create unique crafts and decorations. All you need is a bit of creativity and imagination, or you can follow some of our ideas to make some really cool diy creations.
What toys can I make out of cardboard?
There are many fun toys you can make out of cardboard. You can make a playhouse, doll house, boat, pirate ship, maze, tunnel, sword and shield, ball games, car garage, car wash, slide, barbie or doll furniture, play kitchen, dog house, cat house, cat scratch pad or center, and so many more fun things for kids or your fur babies.
From older babies to older kids, you can entertain them all with cardboard upcycling.
20 + Awesome Ways To Upcycle Cardboard For Kids
1. Drive-up window/fast food shop – drive-up window/bank – or drive-up window/pharmacy
All you need is a tall box like the one above. Using a utility knife or razor cut out a window that opens and closes and then a door on the backside.
You can put a chair in there for the kids to sit on while they exchange play money, play food, or play medicine through the window. The other child or you can be the person in their make-believe car, your cardboard car, or riding a push car.
If you have this box outside, you can even use bikes to ride by the drive-through window. This can be a great way to incorporate gross motor activities with educational skills like counting when they are paying or making change with fake or real money.
With the picture of the above box. Imagine it, one tall box and a window on the front and a door on the back side. Think of all the things that a tall box can be turned into.
Turn that box into some of these other awesome ideas:
2. Jail
All you need is a tall box like the one above. Instead of an open shut window, just cut out a square and then use paper towel rolls to be the bars on the window. Your kids can have fun putting each other in jail or putting you in jail.
3. A Playhouse, secret hideaway, or reading nook.
Make the box like above then add some pillows and blankets and make it comfy. It’s a great way for a child to have a fun reading spot.
4. Spaceship or a rocket
You can add another box to the top of a tall one or cut some cardboard out and make it into an angled top more like a rocket or shuttle. They can have imaginary flights to the moon and into outer space.
5. Ball pit
Lay a tall box down cut out the top and use it as a ball pit or pillow pit where your kids can jump inside of the box.
6. Kid Car Wash Tunnel
This is a unique fun one to make with old cardboard boxes. Your kids can crawl through and pretend they’re a car getting washed. This is also fun with the kids riding their push car through it. On the sides, the parents or kids can move the cardboard tubes back and forth making the material, pool noodles, and rolls of toilet paper move over them.
If you have two tall boxes, you can join them together by cutting out one long side on each and fastening them with tape. It is even better if you can find a refrigerator box or something taller, as you would only need one box then. Make two holes on both sides of the box to put the used wrapping paper tubes through it. For this, you can use extra material, such as an old sheet cut up into strips, which works great. Just tie the strips to the tube, and you are good to go. Additionally, you can use toilet paper rolls or pool noodles to go through more wrapping paper tubes creating more car wash items.
7. Tunnel
Cut the ends of a long box so a kid can crawl through it. Use it when doing obstacle courses and they must crawl through it as part of the obstacle.
8. Boat
A large cardboard box with the top cut out can make a great boat. There are so many clever ways you can create this into a simple boat, row boat, pirate or viking ship. If you have several large boxes children could even make a cruise ship.
9. Play Refrigerator
To make a refrigerator, you will need one large box and one medium-sized box. You may choose to spray paint the boxes if you want them to look fancy, but it is not necessary. The top box will serve as the freezer, and you can cut it open to make two doors.
The bigger box at the bottom is quite simple to work with, as it has two longer side flaps that can act as doors. You could consider removing the bottom side flap and trimming the top flap slightly shorter. Once you have the large box prepared, you can stack smaller boxes inside it to create shelves.
Your child can play with a cardboard egg carton and other food containers like butter, mayo or mustard containers (cleaned and washed). Avoid using glass containers.
To create some fun magnets for your child, you can attach Velcro on the door and another piece of Velcro on a cardboard piece that your child can decorate. Your child can lots of different magnets and place them on the refrigerator by sticking them to other Velcro spots.
I used cardboard to create door handles and attached them with hot glue. However, this didn’t work well, so I suggest cutting a small hole and pushing a bit of the handle through the hole, then gluing it for better attachment. Alternatively, you could use some rope to make handles and tie a knot inside to ensure they stay on securely.
Keeping a play refrigerator in the kitchen while cooking dinner can help keep your little one occupied.
10. Play Kitchen Sink with cabinet and oven/stove kitchen set
To make the sink you need one medium to large size box. Turn it long way up/vertical and then use the two long flaps as the doors. The smaller flap on the top needs most of it cut off and then fully cut off the bottom flap. You can put Velcro on the doors to stay closed but it’s not necessary.
Inside the cabinet you can put a duster, cleaning towels, sponges, empty spray bottles, and other fun cleaning supplies without chemicals. This can be a fun way of introducing your child to cleaning and starting that routine early on.
You make two small holes on the side of the box to zip-tie an empty paper towel roll to the box. Then your child can hang a towel over it or some actual paper towels.
For the sink, I found this silver bowl I had but never seemed to use. Use whatever you have lying around the house even if it’s a plastic bin or tub. Just make sure the box is big enough for whatever you will use. Then cut out a hole on the top of the box to fit your bowl or bin into but not where it’s big enough to fall through.
For the handles I did as I said above on the refrigerator, but using rope may be a good option.
For the stove top cut out 4 round circles and glue on 4 glass juice bottle caps for the stove knobs. Be careful with your little ones with the caps. If they come off it would be a choking hazard so you might just want to draw on the circles instead.
The vase is a paper toilet roll painted with a fake flower put in it. You can hot glue the toilet paper roll/vase down so it will stay.
11. A Grocery Store
To make a grocery store all you really need is a lot of empty cardboard boxes all set up to make a long line of shelves. Long boxes work really well. Kids can put all kinds of items on the top of the boxes and inside them displaying the items. Empty cereal boxes, egg cartons, empty plastic bottles for dressing, mustard, mayo, spices, mac and cheese, or other empty food boxes, water or juice bottles, or canned food items all would be great items to put into the grocery store.
This is a good use of recyclable items for your child to play with. It is very simple and easy to put together and can keep your child entertained for a long while. Have your kids help clean the items and get their store put together.
12. A Library
This is one of the easiest projects you can do with cardboard boxes. Make shelves with empty cardboard boxes by setting them up on top of each other. Slide books into the empty boxes and organize books into different categories/genres. Your children could then pretend to be the librarian or the kid checking out books. Have some paper and a pen handy and they could simply sign it to check the books out. If feeling overly optimistic and have a big box handy why not make a librarian’s desk or counter?
13. Department Stores
Children enjoy playing make-believe shops, so why not create a department store for them to have fun with. You will need a good amount of boxes to create various spots to display clothes or toys, and don’t forget to include a desk or counter for exchanging money.
14. Doll House
To create this structure, you can easily attach several open boxes together, stacking them on top of each other. Make sure that the boxes are large enough to accommodate the doll. This will result in multiple rooms with openings facing towards you. It might not be the cutest or prettiest doll house but it could be a functional one that you and your child can make together. Spruce it up by coloring or spray painting it. Add in a tiny carpet rug from some scraps of cloth you might have and make or buy some type of furniture to put in it.
15. Doll or stuffed animal furniture
Making a chair, bed, table or other items for dolls, barbies, and stuffed animals can be fun. Use cardboard boxes, toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, and wrapping paper tubes along with some good tape.
My son made the above chair as a Christmas gift to disguise the actual gift he was giving. To make it you use a pizza box, wrapping paper tubes, duct tape, and wrapping paper. You wrap it so that you can still open the pizza box seat. And that is where you can hide the gift. It can be a big hit so feel free to make that for your next Christmas and disguise it as a gift. Then your child can use it for dolls or stuffed animals as a chair for them.
Or just make it intentionally for your child now. You don’t have to wrap it but you do need to use plenty of duct tape so wrapping it makes it look nicer.
16. Car racetrack, train tracks, cities, roads, garage, and car wash
When my son used to play with toy cars we would build and make him all kinds of fun racetracks with various items around the house. Cardboard tubes can create fun tunnels to drive race cars through or slide down in.
If you flatten a big box or several boxes that you can put together you can draw a racetrack, railroad tracks, and cities. Along that cardboard, you can put little boxes around with doors so they can drive into them. Make some into homes, car wash, hospital, etc. Your kids can get creative and draw trees and other things along the roadways and color or paint on the cardboard.
17. Superhero village, little people house, or princess castle
What kid doesn’t play with some type of little people or action figures? This could be used with army men also. Use boxes of different sizes, and cardboard tubes, and let them get creative. Help them figure out cool things they can use or add to their village. They might need help cutting out windows and doors and taping boxes together.
Use egg cartons to cut out little chairs for the people to sit in. An egg carton can be cut and used as a bed or table too. They can draw on the cardboard creating a ladder. The fun part about cardboard is that your kids can draw and color all over it and make it unique to them.
18. Human-robot/Knight
This was an instance where we had leftover boxes sitting around before recycling and my son was bored. So, this is what he created and spent some time playing around with. It was his creation and he had fun with it. Pretty cute huh!
19. Sword and shield
To make these, all you need is cardboard. If desired, decorate with aluminum foil, paint, or other items.
This activity is enjoyable for kids as they can create their own cardboard shield and swords and play with them. It’s also a great way for parents to ensure their children’s safety, as cardboard swords are less likely to cause injury compared to other toy swords or of course real ones.
20. Cardboard cut-out photo ops
A great idea to create a cute photo spot is to use a large piece of cardboard and paint. This can be done to make a seasonal or birthday party photo spot. The one created below was specifically made for a Valentine’s Day party. It’s an adorable photo opportunity and, as parents, we can’t help but take a cute photo.
Upcycle cardboard to create endless DIY possibilities.
If your kids feel bored of their playhouse, tunnel, or any other stuff you have made for them, don’t worry. You can flatten the big cardboard box and use it another way. For instance, you can put the flattened box on your stairs (if you have any) and use it as a slide. However, safety should be your top priority. Make sure that the box is safe and your kids won’t get hurt or damage anything around. Additionally, you can use flattened cardboard as a sled on a sand dune, hill, or in any area that can be fun to slide down.
It’s great to spark that creative side in your kids and have them think outside the box 🙂
Don’t forget about your furry friends! They can have fun with your cardboard creations too. Your kids can spend many entertaining hours making these items for their pets to play with.
3 Ideas That You Can Make For Your Fur Babies
1. Dog house
2. Cat Perch
3. Cat Scratching Post
You can make wonderful memories with your kids using just cardboard and your time.
Family bonding is very important. This is one of the most basic ways for a family to enjoy hours of fun while bonding with each other. Additionally, it is a cost-free activity that can be enjoyed by the whole family. All you need to do is to repurpose cardboard boxes and other household items to create your activity, and when you are done, simply recycle them.
Perhaps you already use cardboard boxes for organization, but have you considered other ways to upcycle them, like making cardboard garland for decorations?
Now with all the ideas we have shared hopefully it has sparked some cool ideas to get creative with your family.
Upcycle cardboard boxes and other items you find in your recycle bin. Glass and Plastic are great to upcycle too. Go look in it before you put it out for recycling pick up, you might just find some treasures for your kids.
With the ability of online shopping, obtaining cardboard boxes has become more accessible. If you don’t have enough boxes, consider asking friends or family to save theirs for you.
So, get creative and have some fun with your kids while being environmentally savvy and saving you some money.