: Cozy Cardboard Cottage :

Celebrate Earth Day by making a carboard box cottage with your child. I got this idea from Sweet Fancy who created a quaint gift box out of hers. We decided to make ours a bit different.

My preschooler and I used a small cardboard box, packaging tape, scissors, scraps of fabric, and a gluestick. We guided eachother as to what we would include and he had the final say as to how it would be done. He wanted a window with shutters above, a dog house, grass all the way around, a red door similar to Sweet Fancy's, spring-inspired curtains, a dog house, and a bicycle, although we compromised and decided on a ball this time around. He also picked out the fabric and helped with gluing.

On the side of the house we made somewhat of an English garden with very full rosebushes (also to cover the ugly packaging sticker on that side). In the backyard, he decided on a garden and told me we needed a brown strip of ground for what was going to be the vegetable garden and ended up being the flower patch. We added windows and designed a yellow kiddie pool similar to the one we have.

Have fun and get creative reusing a packaging box. By the way, you will need a little more cardboard to make the roof because the existing long flaps will not be long enough. You can paint it, use construction paper or use fabric as we did. We like the fabric because it creates a rich, lively feeling and it has a better quality when touched. By all means, add your own personal touches when decorating your house. Fun to make and satisfying to look at again and again.