Cardboard Houses

There is a HUGE stack of cardboard in my dinning room currently because I’ve had to order all sorts of things for our new house. Only so much can go out with the recycling every other week so I’ve made up my mind to create artwork with it. Reuse is an important aspect of being an artist. Not everything we create with has to be new. So here’s a simple but lovely project if you too have a lot of cardboard available right now!

MATERIALS:
+ scrap cardboard
+ larger cardboard or paper
+ paint
+ glue
+ markers

Work with a parent to cut up your scrap cardboard into squares, rectangles, and triangles. These shapes will be used to form the houses and their roofs.

Paint your shapes. I like to keep each shape monochromatic- using several greens or several reds instead of one green or one red. Let these dry for fifteen minutes or so before handling them.

Choose a background to glue onto. I chose a slightly larger piece of cardboard. Before gluing, play around and arrange your shapes to decide which colors and shapes go best together. I used white glue (it’s what I had on hand) to attach a wall shape and a roof shape together. Allow these to dry for a little while before our next step.

Add pattern, detail, and architectural features with markers. I used paint markers because I knew they would stand out. You can see in my example above I added shingles to the roof, windows, a front door, and even some plants. I kept it very simple.

You can create a bunch of single house and stand them side by side. You could also grab an even larger piece of cardboard and create a mini neighborhood on that one piece. The possibilities are endless and I can’t wait to see what you come up with! Happy making!