Cardboard + Paint = surprising amount of fun 🤷🏻♀️
plus some April Fool's Ideas
As we close out a month focusing on Attentiveness, here’s a screen-free idea that has occupied my kids more successfully than I could’ve thought: let them paint cardboard and play with it! 😅 Somehow it’s really satisfying and versatile.
Making Their Own Toys
Cutting cardboard takes a bit of effort, so you’ll want to handle that for little ones. Have fun cutting any random shapes (or a tangram template below.) Then lay out a mess mat or take them outside and invite them to paint their little pieces. Your kids will be creating their own toy set, which is empowering! (You can store dried pieces in a gallon zip-loc or something.)
One of my kids made a cardboard Nintendo Switch (complete with a charger!) and hot glued cardboard buttons onto the controllers 🤩 You can also invite your kids to make other kinds of pretend technology: phones, laptops, GPS’s, refrigerators! Limits aren’t the worst 😉
Arranging Cardboard
Arranging cardboard and trying to make cool things with it is a fun and simple sensory activity.
Even my preteen boy got into it!
Set out a “canvas” (a blank piece of cardboard) and let the kids go wild arranging! Maybe they want to make a face, or a landscape, or cool-looking shapes. Encourage your kids to be playful and experiment!
A 5-year-old used the top of a mountain from the winter play scene we made last January to make this super cool, minimalist landscape ⬇️
If you really like the design, you can use hot glue on each piece to make them all stay. Then simply add a ribbon or string to the back and hang it up on your wall!
Little versions of these could make great Christmas ornaments to give away, don’t you think?
There are way more fancy things you can do with this, such as creating layered cardboard sculptures, incredible 3D animal scenes, or layered monochromatic pieces!
Tangrams
Older kids of all ages can enjoy tangrams, a dissection puzzle originating from China that took the world by storm in the 1800’s. There are at least 6500 “problems,” or shapes that can be made with the seven original shapes.
We tested multiple methods of making our own tangram sets, and the easiest was to print out a template, glue it to cardboard, and cut along the lines. (The folding-paper method works too, however.)
We made a PDF for you with one big template and two small templates, as well as some solutions that your kids can do with their sets.
Kids who want more of a challenge can race each other or time themselves, or you can find problems online that are one solid color so you have to try to figure out how to arrange those shapes.
Tangram Channel has a wealth of good ideas. 😉 Medium-difficulty means you use two tangram sets, and advanced means you use four sets. Can you believe they made an Eiffel tower?
Our kids had a total blast with cardboard shapes and tangrams at their respective skill levels, and it’s super fun for grownups, too. Tangrams were all the rage in the 19th century for good reason. This puzzle is addicting, fun, and practically limitless.
I hope you have fun and make cool things!
Have a great weekend!
Warmly,
Hope from Family Scripts
P.S. Last year we shared some ornery but harmless ideas for ways to prank your kids on April Fools. Feel free to partake 😜 I loved getting your pictures and videos of successful pranks last year.
We did this and copied Henri Matisse’ art style. Kept us busy forever! 😍 Thank you for this idea.
We will be painting cardboard this week. Who knew it would be so much fun?! 😂