Here is a fun and easy winter craft project that you can make an annual tradition. You can adapt it to kids of all ages and to all levels of crafting as well. You can use the materials you have at home, or take a trip to your local craft store and stock up on special materials.
Instead of dreading the cold outside or another hour spent in front of a screen, why not give this craft a try? Not only will building it keep the kids entertained, they will be able to use their winter wonderland to amuse themselves for a long time after the building is done.
Goal
Build your own winter wonderland town.
Supplies
Boxes – you can use empty food boxes, old christmas boxes, but try to find some that are all of similar shape/size
Construction paper, tissue paper, cardboard, and/or colored paperboard
Markers, crayons, and/or colored pencils
Cotton balls
Glue
Glitter, ribbon, beads, other decorative goodies
Instructions
1. Take dark construction paper and lay it on an flat surface where you will display your winter wonderland town. You can tape or glue the paper together if you wish. This will be the ground.
2. Select a box and decide what kind of building it will be – a house, a post office, a library, a store. Trim the box, if needed, to an appropriate size (cut off the bottom if box is too tall).
3. Take a piece of construction paper and size it to the box. Lay it on the box, and cut out the paper so that it matches the size of the box.
4. Draw the front of the building on the piece of construction paper, and then glue the paper to the front of the box. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for all sides and the top of the box. You can use different materials to help decorate your building.
5. When the building is complete, place it on the ground.
6. Continue to make different buildings with the different boxes – ideally different family members make different buildings, and you can save some buildings for next year’s wonderland.
7. When you have several buildings in your town, you can draw roads on your construction paper. If you have green tissue paper, you can add bushes or trees as well.
8. Let it snow! Stretch out your cotton balls so they are nice and fluffy. Add snow to your town by spreading it out over the ground and buildings. Attach your cotton balls with just a touch of glue stick.
9. If your town feels a little empty, you can always add some figurines – like Lego or Playmobile people. You can even throw in some Matchbox cars or other vehicles that have the right scale.
10. You can enjoy looking at your Winter Wonderland, or let the kids play with it!
