Thnx Pinterest

This box car was a fun little craft that gets a lot of play time in our house!  Plus, it was practically free – no need to buy expensive toy cars or push toys.  I have a feeling that there will be many of these cars in our house over the next few years, I can’t wait until C is a little older so we can do a full drive in movie night!

Before:

After:

PINspiration

The idea for this came from my Keeping Little Hands & Minds Happy Pinterest board.

Loved

• I heart Chalkboard Contact Paper! This stuff is fantastic and I’ve use it around the house all the time, including in my Command Center.   I just ordered a second roll as well as one in white – it is $8.41 well spent!  I covered the outside of the box with it as a starting point for this fun box car.
• Vivid colors thnx to Crayola Dry Erase Bright Crayons.  Not only did they make decorating the car easy and fun, but they are durable- we are on month #2 and going strong.   Plus, if you make a mistake, they come with a special mitten that just wipes the crayon away.
• More than just a toy – it’s storage too! C pushes it around and picks up his toys, books, milk and blankets – it is really cute but also a great way to clean up the living room.

Learned

• The simplest toys are always the best.  Geek Dad was right, a box really is one of the 5 best toys of all time.
• Great for kids of any age.  This could be fun for older kids who could have fun decorating cars.
• Covering the box is the hardest part.  Here is what I did:
  • Cut a piece of contact paper so that it would wrap the around 4 sides of the box.
  • To apply I did one side at a time, only removing enough of the backing to apply the side that I was working on.  (If you don’t know, contact paper has a sticky adhesive on the back which attaches it right to cardboard (or any other surface you want)).  I applied it and smoothed it out to cover the whole outer surface of the box (even the opening that eventually became the door.
  • Cut slits at each of the corners and folded the paper down into the inside of the box.
  • For the door: my box already had a nice opening for a door I just cut the contact paper out around the opening (leaving one side attached so that the door would swing).  I also made an edge around it with colored duct tape.

Thnx

• Thanks to Homemaking Fun  for your post that PINspired this fun activity
• Thanks @crayola for the Dry Erase Bright Crayons and so many other great products
• Thank you @jonathanhliu from @WiredGeekDad for the reminder about simple toys
• Thanks Pinterest for all the inspiring ideas. Not on Pinterest? Send me an e-mail thnxpinterest at hotmail dot com and I’ll send you an invite (if you sign up for an invite on the site it will take a while).

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