The Imagination Tree

Creative play and learning for kids

DIY: Cardboard Road Way Play!

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Make a simple, free homemade road-way toy from recycled cardboard, for hours of creative play!

I was determined to get another use out of the pieces of cardboard that I used in our latest Discovery Box, so I made some road way pieces out of it for playing with. Great for packing up in a bag with a few toy cars and taking on a trip to the doctor or when visiting Granny!
It was so quick and easy that I did it while the girls were taking a nap. This is what I did….

 I painted three thin sheets of cardboard using black paint and a kiddie sponge roller.

 I cut each sheet into different pieces. Out of the first I cut some short roads.

 Out of the second I cut some long roads.

 And out of the last one I cut four semi-circular roads for making into roundabouts and curved corners.

 Then I cut a stack of small rectangles from white card. I needed twice this many in the end.

I stuck the rectangles at regular intervals along each piece of road way to look like road markings.

 I then cut two of the semi-circular pieces in half to make four smaller pieces, as the big ones didn’t make tight enough bends. I kept two the original size for making into a roundabout.

And here it is set up in one combination with a few of Cakie’s cars and tractors ready for some imaginative play! She will be able to set it up in endless different ways and we may add some buildings from boxes and other play-scence items using Duplo and Playmobil 123 in order to increase the possibilities.

This was done quickly and without measuring, rulers and accuracy. If you wanted to do this *properly* it would make a really lovely low budget Christmas gift. Just package it beautifully in a shiny, black gift box with a packet of colourful cars for playing with!

Comments

  8. Oh what a perfect road! And you clever. I love it. Great bit of recyclin too!

    Thank you for linking up to Kids Get Crafty! Lovely to see you there!

    Maggy

  13. Sooooo fun! I love that idea. plus easy clean up. 🙂 I have about a million boxes from moving also–I think this will be a fun craft the kids would enjoy doing with me. 🙂

  15. I am envisioning packing something like this up into a little bag for my son when he has to sit through his sisters dance class. Very cool.

  16. I am going to have to give this a try. Bet my son will like it better then the play matt somebody bought him. Kids are funny that way 🙂