A creative mind is such a gift. It enables you to look at the world in a special way. Promoting creativity in children doesn’t have to be hard work. You don’t have to buy kits or craft packs in order to make fun and innovate creations with your kids. Our favourite material to use is the cereal box. It is so versatile, and it’s heading to recycling anyway so it doesn’t cost anything! First, cut the cereal box so it opens out flat. Then, start cutting, drawing & creating.
My boys love to make cardboard smartphones. I trace my iPhone on the cardboard twice & cut out the two pieces. Then we glue the two pieces together so the shiny cereal box material is on the inside, leaving cardboard on the outside to draw on. The same technique works great to make a cardboard drivers licence. When your child is done creating, you can wrap clear tape around the outside to make it shiny like a real card/phone. Both are so easy to make and the kids get hours of fun with them.
Our most detailed creation was cardboard tractors. Both of my boys are tractor mad! We used metal clips for the wheels so they can really turn. Both sets of tractors are made entirely from cereal boxes. We cut out the pieces, then the boys drew their designs and lastly we glued the pieces together.
Sometimes my boys make creations by themselves, without my help. I am so amazed by the things they come up with! They rummage through the recycling container in our closet and pull out different boxes, milk cartons, juice containers & anything else that looks interesting. My oldest made this chainsaw all by himself! He said the milk carton looked like the handle of his dad’s chainsaw. That’s such a creative way to see a milk carton! His chainsaw is made from a milk carton, a few sheets of paper and a cereal box.
Last year we went through a phase of making cardboard watches. They are super easy to make and the kids really enjoyed wearing them. Again, we cut a watch shape out of a cereal box, wrote on the numbers, and used a pin to hold on the watch dials that are made out of cardboard. It’s also a fun way to learn about time because they can set their cardboard watch to the current time. We have also made cardboard glasses out of a cereal box. The “lense” is the clear portion from a new toy’s packaging. My boys have so much fun making their creations and then so much fun playing with them.
I hope I have inspired you to get creative with your kids. You can make beautiful, fun things with just a cereal box, scissors, glue and crayons. Promoting creativity in children is so easy & fun. I’d love to see your homemade creations!
