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My four-year-old loves making projects, and, while I do have some artistic talent, when it comes to straight crafting, I’m woefully lacking in skills.

Every once in a while, creativity strikes, and I come up with something pretty cool. (Well, at least I think so). The other day, I was looking at a couple of cereal boxes we had in our recycling pile, and thought they could be used to make a train.

With the addition of some paper plates, a paper towel roll, some straws, markers and a glue gun, we had everything we needed for an easy project.

As a bonus, my four-year-old loved the chance to work with a hot glue gun.

Materials:

2 different-sized cereal boxes. (I used an 18 oz box and an 8.9 oz box)

4 large paper plates

4 medium sized paper plates

4 straws

1 paper towel roll, empty

Scissors

Hot glue gun

1 sheet white construction paper

Box of markers, for decorating

How to:

Cut out circles in paper plates. (You may not have to depending on their size, but my son likes doing scissor work, so I let him, even though they aren’t perfect)

Poke holes for straws through cereal boxes and through plates

Use the hot glue gun to attach one side of the larger cereal box to the smaller box

Insert straws through paper plate “wheels” and through holes in boxes

Glue paper towel funnel on top of smaller box

Cut out a cloud shape from the white construction paper, fold into a funnel and insert into paper towel roll

 

Don’t limit yourself to markers. Stickers, glitter and stamps could all be use for fun decorations. You can even take this project a step further and cover the boxes with colorful paper.

As a crafting novice, I’m sure there are tons of tweaks you experts could suggest to make this project even better. Feel free to share your ideas below. And, tell me, how do you craft with your kids?