How To Build A Cardboard Castle

The heroic tales of kings and queens and their kingdoms are something most kids get fascinated by. You can find your kid deeply engrossed in any tale that talks about the rich and colourful history of palaces and castles, and brave rulers who lived in them. Instead of turning down your kid’s questions and dissuading their inquisitive nature, you can actually further develop their imagination by taking a few innovative steps. One way to help your kid live out his/her interest and imagination in the rich history of the dynasties of the world is by encouraging and helping them build a cardboard castle. You can make use of few cardboard boxes and other easily available material at home and help your kid get a physical structure of his/her imaginations of the huge stone structures constructed by the rulers of yore. Go through these steps to build a castle and educate your kids in an innovative, fun and skilful way.

Making A Cardboard Castle

Materials Required

Large and small cardboard boxes
Paper plates
Popsicle sticks
Wrapping paper tubes or paper towels and tubes
Small sized plastic containers
Old set of wrapping paper or wall paper
Brown wrapping tape
Empty Kleenex boxes
Toothpicks
Spray paint
Strings and yarns
Pictures cut from birthday cards or old calendars
White glue and glue sticks
Heavy scissors and a sharp knife (caution: these must only be used by you, and kept out of kids’ reach)

Procedure

Use one side of a large box to make the base of your castle. Cut the side of the box into a rectangle, making it larger than the actual castle. Once you have the right size, use spray paint or water colours on the top of the cardboard.
Now cut the flaps of a medium sized box to get the structure of the castle. Once you have cut the flaps of the box put it on its side so that the main room of your castle can have an open side. Now glue this main building of the castle to the base and use the knife to cut out the windows and doors.
Once the main room of the castle is ready, it is time to carve out turrets. Cut the tall tubes in a way that they stand taller than the main building and then glue them to the four corners of the structure. In order to make sure that the turrets are securely attached to the box, wrap some brown tape all around where needed. Brown tape will also help the turrets get a smooth look.
Use four small plastic cups to complete the top of the turrets. Make a small hole at the bottom of the cups, wide enough for them to slide over the cardboard tubes. You can also stick Popsicle sticks around each cup and wrap it around with the brown tape to cover the broken ends.
Use small boxes to make small rooms to add floors to the main building of your castle. Cut doors and windows using a sharp knife for these small rooms before you secure them with glue to the top of the main building.
Use a paper plate made into a cone after wrapping it with brown paper to decorate the top of the castle. Make a flag out of the toothpick and scrap of materials and adorn the very top of your palace.
Once the castle is ready it is time to make it colourful. Spray paint the building first with a light coat and leave it to dry. You might have to paint some 3-4 odd coats in order to cover the brown cardboard with the colour you want to see it in.
If you want to give a stony look to your castle, cut a sponge into a rectangular shape and soak it into grey paint and swab it to the outer surface of the castle, leaving brick like spaces wherever you want to.
You can also add in a guardroom or a drawbridge to your castle giving it a more authentic look. Make a three-sided cut looking like an inverse ‘U’, on the wall opposite to the open side of the building. Prevent your drawbridge from falling inside the building by sticking a Popsicle stick to the outside top-edge of the door. You can also attach a piece of string or a yarn in order to make your drawbridge functional.
Cut a three sided window leaving the bottom attached on any side of the wall and stick or tape several Popsicle sticks to make the railings. This will take care of a balcony in your castle.
Now is the time to decorate the castle with the paper cuttings from old birthday cards and calendars. You can make use of colourful ribbons, door knobs made out of buttons and other decorative materials to decorate the doors and the windows.
Use different size boxes glued together to introduce a staircase to the castle. You can also create a trap door by cutting a small three sided opening in the ceiling and bending the door upward. The staircase can be placed beneath the trap door.
You can also use a few smaller cardboard boxes and other material in order to make tables, chairs and other furniture to be added to your castle. Just use your imagination and you can come with several new things to add on.

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