Cardboard Craft-Skeeball!

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One of my very favorite things is cardboard boxes! I know, it’s weird, but it’s true. When you have kids, cardboard boxes are pretty much the ULTIMATE toy. Even just as is. A kid can play in a box for hours. Don’t believe me? Go put your kid in a box! Right now! Ok, that sounds a little weird, but they’ll love it, trust me.

The ease with which I found plenty of pictures of my kids playing in/with boxes was shocking. This doesn’t even put a dent in my collection!

At our house we go above and beyond with the cardboard. I’m all about letting my kid have a box and run with imagination. Color on it, slide down the stairs with it, make something out of it, pretend it’s a car! But my husband… Wow. He takes it to a whole new level. As long as I’ve known him (which is a long time, see “Our Love Story“) he has always made things out of cardboard. Toys, costumes, shields, swords, boxes that are the exact size that he wants, art… You name it, he will make it out of a cardboard box and duct tape. 

As kids, he and his friends would “battle” each other in the front yard. They worked hours on these elaborate shields and weapons. They perfected their armor both for looks and for protection. I wish I could say that when I say “kids” I mean elementary age, but this was in college. 

You get the point. The man loves cardboard. And he’s an expert.

This has carried through with his parenting. If he wants to race cars with Theron on a giant track, well, by golly, we’ve got a giant cardboard track by the end of the day! (See it HERE!) The great part about it, though, is once our kids get tired of it, we throw it away! No guilt. We didn’t spend money on a huge toy. I can’t even think how expensive that giant track would have been as an actual store-bought product…

I am always in awe of his cardboard crafting and decided that we need to share it with the world! Our cardboard household is too fun not to share! We will be featuring my husband’s designs fairly frequently on Purposeful Mommy, so make sure to sign up for our email list so that you can be sure to catch each one!

Today’s Featured Cardboard Craft… Skeeball!

Who doesn’t love playing Skeeball at an arcade? It’s so fun and such a simple concept!

Max wanted to play with our kids at home (plus he just really wanted to make it!)

This is one of my favorite ways that he plays with Theron. The activity and playing is more the MAKING of the toy then the playing with the toy. Although they do play with it for a long time afterward. Theron is totally into helping create things out of cardboard. 

Doing larger crafts with your kids can be great even when they are little like my son. Even though he is only 3, he is starting to see how smaller parts can come together to make a whole. He helps hold pieces down and match up sides and in the process is learning how things work. He also learns about safety. Max does use a box cutter. Theron has been taught that this is very sharp and it is not a toy. He is actually very good about respecting tools and not playing with them. I think this is because he has opportunities to participate when they are in use. He is learning what they are used for and that they can be dangerous.

The Process

This won’t exactly be a step-by-step how-to. It will more to show the process behind how these cardboard creations come to be. No exact measurements will be given.

We started with some recycled boxes, tape, box cutters, and sharpies!

As you can see we use recycled boxes and materials to make fun activities for our kids! That being said, we have in the past bought some moving boxes if there was something that we really wanted to make. 

Of course we always have on hand other supplies for these crafts. 

First he cut the box to make a wedge. He used the folds that already existed to help create the shape.

You might be able to see how when folded at the creases, a wedge/ramp will result. After he assembled the ramp, he cut holes.

He then cut shapes to make the sides and bottom of the ramp (please excuse the mess of toys surrounding the work).

After creating the main ramp, he used the left over parts of the box to create the walls. He used coke boxes to create the dividers and rings.

He cut a large hole in the back wall for the balls to come out after bowling them. After he had made the whole thing he said, “Had I thought of it, I would’ve made a ball return!… Tell your readers they should make a ball return!” So if you make one of these with a ball return, Max would be thrilled to see it! 

Here is what he did for the balls to come out.

The details were drawn on with Sharpie and we used plastic ball pit balls that we use to make a giant ball pit with our portable playard. The kids had so much fun tossing the balls into the holes! 

If you liked this activity, you might like to read these posts, featuring our cardboard race track and our giant board game!

Indoor Activities for Your Preschooler

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If you want some great ideas for other activities to do with your kids, make sure to sign up for our email list to receive my list of “100 Indoor Activities To Do on a Rainy Day.”

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