DIY Cardboard Cranky Crane

My almost-two-year-old LOVES to stack things and knock them down.  While at a recent dinner party, he entertained himself for an impressively long time by collecting play-doh containers and, completely uninterested in the contents, built tower after tower for his own amusement.  While planning his Thomas the Train birthday party, I wanted to provide him and his friends with an opportunity to use this skill!  Here’s what I came up with:

cardboard_cranky_final

What I Used:

  • Medium U-haul box
  • Two smaller rectangular boxes (were supposed to be U-haul book boxes, but we couldn’t find those in our box stash)
  • U-haul dish saver box
  • Poster box cut-down to roughly 12″ long
  • Ram board seam tape (or something similar)
  • Paint (spray paint or other)
    • Black, Gray
  • Lettering
  • Green paper or vinyl
  • Cranky’s face
  • Spray adhesive
  • Ribbon or thread
  • Paper clip or other small object
  • Yellow pool noodle
  • OPTIONAL: Black, green, and gray duct tape

(1)  Tape boxes closed and, if you can, cover the as seamlessly as possible in tape (this will help with their appearance post-painting).

cardboard_cranky_tape_boxes

(2)  Paint medium box and two smaller boxes gray.

cardboard_cranky_paint_boxes_good

cardboard_cranky_paint_boxes
This peeling tape is what happens if you leave too many exposed seams when taping up the boxes. Either cover the boxes evenly in tape or repair these peeling sections post-painting with gray tape.

 

(3)  Add black “x’s” to medium box and two smaller boxes.  I think it’s easier and cleaner to do this step with black duct tape, but I ran out of tape, and painting the “x” on works just find as well.

cardboard_cranky_xs
Painted “x” on the top, and duct tape “x” on the bottom

 

(4)  Paint dish saver box black.

cardboard_cranky_paint_black

(5)  On one side of the dish saver box, add lettering (cut from green paper or vinyl).

cardboard_cranky_lettering

(6)  On the other side of the dish saver box, add one diagonal gray line (with paint or duct tape) as well as “windows” or any other decoration that you’d like.

cardboard_cranky_windows

(7)  Adhere Cranky’s face to the front of the box with spray adhesive.

cardboard_cranky_face

(8)  Paint poster box black.

cardboard_cranky_paint_small_box_black

(9)  Working down two parallel sides, add small gray x’s (with paint or duct tape).

cardboard_cranky_small_xs

(10) Cut a piece of ribbon or thread (I used yellow ribbon here) to 30-ish” and affix a 15″ pool noodle to the end.  To do this step, I poked a hole in the top of the noodle and weaved the ribbon through it.  Secure a paper clip (or other object) to the end of the ribbon to keep it from coming back through the hold.  Then, I pulled the ribbon tight, allowing the object to hold the pool noodle to the ribbon.  OPTIONAL:  Write “SODOR” on the noodle in black sharpie.

cardboard_cranky_ribbon

cardboard_cranky_sodor

(11)  Poke hold in the bottom and the front of the poster box, and weave a ribbon through, tying a knot to secure.  I also covered up my holes and exposed knot with black tape.

cardboard_cranky_hole_ribbon

cardboard_cranky_black_tape

(12)  Adhere the poster box/ribbon/noodle to the top of the dish saver box.

cardboard_cranky_side_final

cardboard_cranky_final

And let the kids enjoy stacking, destroying, and re-stacking Cranky the Crane!

cardboard_cranky_build

cardboard_cranky_build1

Looking for other crazy things to do with cardboard?  Come take a look at this Outerspace Tunnel and Rocket Ships and Cardboard Train!

For other train party ideas, come see Chugga, Chugga, TWO TWO!

Save

Save

Save

Save


Posted

in

by

Tags:

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

INSTAGRAM