Handmade Cardboard Village

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

• Leftover cardboard boxes with little printing on them (about 6 large boxes).
• Assorted acrylic paints
• Small and medium paintbrushes
• X-Acto knife and blades
• Straight edge
• Cutting surface
• Quick grip glue
• Glue gun and glue sticks
• Downloaded animal templates

DIRECTIONS:

1. Use a pencil to draw the outline of the front, back and sides of each house. Make the houses different sizes.
2. Cut them out with your X-Acto knife and straight edge.
3. Using Quick glue and glue the boxes together.
4. Measure the top of the houses to determine the roof sizes. Using the X-Acto knife, cut the roofs. Do not glue them to the houses before painting them.
5. Lay the roofs on a flat covered working surface and paint them. Let them dry.
6. Repeat this process with the trees, bridges and mountains.
7. Paint the trees, windows and doors, mountain top and bridges after you have assembled them.

PEOPLE & ANIMALS:
1. To create the people and animals, download the attached files to make your templates.
2. Trace the animal bodies onto cardboard and cut out with your X-Acto knife.
3. Draw legs onto cardboard and cut them out as well. Attach legs by making a slit with your knife in the top of each leg and slide it onto the cardboard body. Apply a little glue at the slit of the leg to help hold them in place.
4. Once you have each animal created, place them on a piece of cardboard so that you can cut out a base slightly larger than the mass of each animal.
5. Make a stand for each animal and attach at the base.
6. You will also have to make a stand for each fence post.

Craft Hack Tips and Tricks:

• Put the animals and people together before you place them on their stands.
• Make sure to let dry 4-6 hours.
• To make the lines straight on the houses and trees where they fold, lightly score the front of the houses or trees at the seams and they will bend with a nice straight line.