Make a cardboard building
Build a cardboard model building using recycled boxes, scissors, tape, and markers. Plan floors, cut windows and doors with adult help, and decorate your structure.
About this activity
Build a cardboard model building using recycled boxes, scissors, tape, and markers. Plan floors, cut windows and doors with adult help, and decorate your structure.
What you need
Step by step
- 1
Step 1
Gather all your materials and set them on a clear table or floor space.
- 2
Step 2
Pick what kind of building you want to make and decide how many floors it will have.
- 3
Step 3
Use your ruler and marker to draw outlines on the boxes for each wall floor and roof.
- 4
Step 4
Cut the boxes along your drawn lines with adult help.
- 5
Step 5
Fold or score the edges where the walls will meet to make nice corners.
- 6
Step 6
Tape two folded walls together to make a room shape.
- 7
Step 7
Stack and tape more rooms on top of each other to build extra floors.
- 8
Step 8
With adult help cut out windows and a door where you marked them.
- 9
Step 9
Reinforce the window and door edges with tape so they stay strong.
- 10
Step 10
Decorate the outside and inside with markers stickers and scrap paper.
- 11
Step 11
Add small cardboard details like balconies stairs or furniture and tape them in place.
- 12
Step 12
Share your finished cardboard building on DIY.org
Fun facts
How do you build a cardboard model building with kids?
Start by planning the layout: decide how many floors and rooms. Flatten and measure recycled boxes then cut openings for doors and windows (adult help recommended for sharp tools). Stack and tape boxes securely, reinforcing seams with packing tape. Use smaller boxes for balconies or roofs. Add details with markers, paint, stickers, and glued-on paper. Let glue and paint dry between steps and test stability before letting kids play inside or on top.
What materials do I need to make a cardboard building?
Gather recycled boxes of various sizes, child-safe scissors, a craft knife for adult use, packing or masking tape, white glue or a glue stick, ruler and pencil for measuring, and markers or tempera paint for decoration. Optional extras: cardboard tubes, construction paper, stickers, small boxes for furniture, and battery-operated tea lights. Use a cutting mat and keep sharp tools for adult hands to ensure safety.
What ages is this cardboard building activity suitable for?
This activity is adaptable: preschoolers (3–5) can help decorate, sort boxes, and press tape with supervision. Elementary kids (6–8) can measure, cut with child-safe scissors, and assemble simple structures. Older children (9+) can plan complex floors, use adult-supervised craft knives, and design detailed interiors. Always supervise younger children during cutting and small-part use, and adjust complexity to match each child’s fine-motor skills and attention span.
What safety tips and benefits come from making a cardboard building?
Benefits include creativity, problem-solving, spatial reasoning, and improved fine motor skills, plus learning about recycling. For safety: supervise all cutting and use child-safe scissors for young kids. Reserve craft knives for adults, reinforce joints to prevent collapse, avoid tiny choking hazards for under-3s, and use non-toxic paints and glue in a ventilated area. Teach kids to handle tools carefully and test the finished building for stability before play.
Watch & Learn
Need help?
What can we use if we don't have large cardboard boxes or a ruler?
If you don't have large boxes use cereal, shoeboxes, or tape smaller pieces together and use a straight edge like a book and a pencil instead of a ruler to draw your outlines.
My building keeps collapsing when I stack floors—what should we try?
Reinforce the corners and seams by scoring and folding the edges, overlapping flaps, and adding strong packing tape where you tape two folded walls together and between stacked rooms to stabilize each floor.
How can I adapt this project for a 3-year-old versus a 10-year-old?
For a 3-year-old have an adult pre-cut and score the pieces and let them decorate with stickers and markers, while a 10-year-old can measure with the ruler, cut windows with supervision, and build multiple stacked floors and detailed balconies.
How can we make the cardboard building more exciting or realistic?
Personalize and extend it by painting the inside and outside, taping LED tea lights behind cut-out windows, and adding movable features like a paper elevator or removable cardboard furniture as suggested in the 'Add small cardboard details' step.