With some cardboard and creativity, bring your dream tree house to life.
Materials
Thin cardboard (from a cereal or cracker box)- Foam, thicker cardboard, wood (a material sturdy to use for the base)
- Paper towel roll
- Popsicle and craft sticks
- Pipe cleaner, string, or ribbon
- Paint, brushes, water bucket
- Markers (optional)
- Tissue paper (optional)
- Scissors
- Pencils and eraser
- Ruler
- Hot glue
Instructions
- Select the material for the base you want to use. Keep in mind it will help support your tree house and can always be decorated to look like grass.
- Paint the cardboard tube to look like tree bark. We use Popsicle sticks to create the branches, which you can paint or wrap in brown paper to help add texture.
- While the paint is drying, measure and cut four squares out of thin cardboard. We recommend making them about 4X4 inches, but you can certainly go smaller or bigger. Decorate your tree house using markers or paint, and cut out a door or windows if you’d like. Carefully hot glue the four walls together to begin to make the house shape.
- Next, use the cardboard to create a roof, it can be triangular, flat, or slightly tilted as seen in the example. The choice is up to you!
- With your Popsicle or craft sticks, build a platform for your house. If you don’t have these materials at home, you can use another piece of cardboard and decorate the visible surface to look different. Tip: Wouldn’t you want your tree house balcony to have a railing around the edge to keep you safe?
- Hot glue your tree house to the base so it will balance on your ‘tree trunk’ aka the cardboard tube. Once glued to one end, hot glue the other end to your base.
- If you are adding branches, make small cuts in the tube where the branches can be hot glued into. If you have tissue paper, you can use it to add leaves or flowers to branches and trunk.
- The final step is to take pipe cleaner, string, or ribbon to create your rope ladder leading from the ground up to the tree house landing.
- Give everything time to dry to ensure it is sturdy.