Cardboard boxes perfect for converting into play castles.
Play castles are easy to make out of materials like cardboard boxes, shipping tubes and plastic tubs. A gate or drawbridge adds to the authenticity, and sparks the imagination. Build your play castle first with an arched opening, one that is big enough for a child to crawl through. Then, create a wooden-and-iron-look gate that she can open and close behind her.
Instructions
1. Tape a large sheet of large paper over the opening, and trace around the opening so that you have an exact pattern for your gate. Mark the straight line along the bottom as well. Remove your paper.
2. Draw a straight line 2 inches below your bottom line. It should be parallel with the bottom of the gate opening. This extra tab on the bottom of the gate will become your gate hinge later.
3. Cut out your tracing. It should be rectangular at the bottom and arched at the top, with parallel sides.
4. Measure the width of your gate and divide it by an odd number -- five at least. This will give you the width of your gate planks. The smaller the number, the wider the planks will be, and the more sturdy the gate.
5. Draw vertical lines to indicate the planks, using the measurement from Step 4. Color the first plank on the left with a brown crayon. Skip over the next plank. Color in the next plank and skip the one after, until you finish with a colored-in plank on both sides of the gate.
6. Measure the height of the gate and divide the height by three. Mark these on the paper and draw three cross bars across your planks. Color in your cross bars (perhaps in black, to represent iron) to make them easy to see.
7. Cut out the waste paper between the planks and cross bars. This paper becomes the template for your gate.
8. Tape your template on sturdy cardboard. Draw around the outline of your template, both the planks and gaps. Cut out the gate using scissors and a utility knife. Color in the planks and bars, and use markers to draw details on your planks like big bolts and wood grain. Detail both sides of the gate.
9. Fold the cardboard tab under (toward the inside of the castle) along the bottom of the gate, and tape the gate in place. Staple 2-by-4-inch cardboard tabs on the inside of the doorway to hold the gate in place.
Tags: your gate, bottom gate, cross bars, along bottom, both sides, both sides gate, gate divide
