Cardboard train

I had this awesome box sitting in my kitchen, and HAD to do something with it. It is super sturdy, and was meant to be created into a toy, so I thought "what does Ares love more then ANYthing in the world?....TRAINS! Duh". So a train it became!

We started off by cutting out a smoke stack (HAD to be a steam locomotive!)

Then cut out some crappy circles and squares to make wheels and to cover up the company name on the side lol

 Then a square for the smoke stack, and a puff of steam made from left over cardboard and construction paper :)

And voila, you have a crappy, yet useful steam locomotive to  cart your toddler around in! My box already had two perfect sized holes in the front to put a ribbon through so I could pull him about.

He had fun making it, and enjoyed carting his animals around in it! Plus when Persephone woke up, he pulled her around in it for a bit.

So there you have it. A crappy cardboard box turned into a crappy cardboard train that cost NO money at all, and was/is hours of fun! Great rainy day project to do with your toddler.

Sorry for the crappy pictures this week...didnt have time to edit them! :)

Love~!!

DIY cardboard playthings!

Recently I have made my children two, absolutely free (if you have the materials already, which I totally did) new "playthings" as I like to call them.

We have a bunch of animalz (which if you haven't seen, are possibly THE coolest toy animals out there. So cute and unique. Plus made out of simple materials. What is there not to love?! Check out the link and drool), however no place for them to call "home". I was thinking of buying a barn for them, but was humming and hawing over the price of one. Even second hand, the nice ones are still flipping expensive! 

Then I saw it. Two shallow cardboard boxes before me, shaping into a cute little barn that I could make for FREE. I set to it immediately. Free, easy, AND if my son (who loves to smash, crash and throw just about everything) destroys it, I could care less.

All I needed was a hot glue gun, scissors and some construction paper to embellish the outside. How EASY is that?! It turned out pretty cute too. I'm no artist, or master craftsman, but my son sure loves it, so who the hell cares what it looks like!

Not too shabby eh??

Now...onto my next "plaything". Once again I was looking at a box and realized it would make a really cool "plaything" for my babies. This time I imagined it as a fridge. 

So once again I set to work (this time with the help of my son).

(that is is CHEEEESE pirate face BTW....he does it for practically every photo)

Some hot glue, a few snips here and there, add a "latch" - which consisted of sticky velcro and construction paper lol - annnddd....

VOILA! Fridge!

My little guy was pretty proud of all his work. I was proud of it too :)

So next time you are drooling over the beautiful wooden barns and kitchen items...remember you can reuse materials at home, create a great craft time activity, and have something your little one is proud to play with because they helped create it! 

Oh...and save a crap ton of money in the process!!

Love~!!