If you are looking for a fun craft to help kids build creativity, look no further! Creating a little park or playground using popsicle sticks and recycled cardboard tubes (for starters) is so much fun, and afterwards the kids can actually use their creation as a playscape for Playmobil people or any another little dolls or animals. In the past we have made a miniature swingset from recyclables, as well as a mini playground craft using skewers, though this popsicle stick playground was actually made by my ten year old son in school with a group of boys as part of a larger project. I am so proud of him! On the day of the exhibition my son said to me "oh mommy, did you see all the playgrounds that everyone made? I taught them how to do that." Big smile from mommy!
This really is so much fun, and judging from my own children's enthusiasm with the mini playgrounds we (they actually) made at home, there is something very appealing about this craft. So milk it as much as you can and encourage kids to make the playgrounds of their dreams with towers and tall slides! This is a great summer craft project to do over the course of a week, and depending on how much space you have in your home, you can do it on one large base that could always be hung on the wall, or for practicality, do it on a base made up of say six or so more manageable pieces.
You'll Need:
- a piece of foam core, cardboard or wood for the base
- brown and green paint to paint the base, red paint for the slide
- popsickle sticks, pre-colored or natural or some combination of the two
- recycled cardboard tube, like from paper towels
- small rocks for the ground (maybe you have some left over from a goldfish bowl?)
- pipe cleaners and little pom poms (optional)
- high tack craft glue and hot glue with adult supervision
How To:
Paint the base, make the equipment separately and then affix to base. Affix small rocks or any another material that simulates ground, even patches of sand paper would be great! Have fun with this one and let me know how it goes! Oh, and if you'd like to make some pine cone trees, check out my post showing pine cone orange trees craft, too cute for words!