Yesterday I was feeling under the weather, but just because I'm sick doesn't mean the kids have to be bored all day. Looking to Pinterest for some inspiration (as usual) I came across a cute pin for a cardboard box play tunnel. We still have tons of cardboard boxes from our move 4 months ago. Perfect!
I stuck three medium moving boxes together like so:
The kids were so excited they were crawling inside before I even finished taping them together.
I got out the box of crayons and let them go to town all over their new tunnel.
My girls love to color.
Making it so pretty.
Goofy loves to color on anything (besides paper) so this was a perfect activity for her.
Princess was drawing a princess of course.
Boo! I see you!
After a brief break for lunch, I let them color a few minutes before nap time. Now it was my turn to decorate! I knew I wanted to make the box like their very own Where's Waldo book come to life. First, I printed out the Waldo characters, laminated them, put Velcro on the back, and placed them all over inside the box.
I added streamers to go crawl through.
The tunnel was really coming along, but I needed something else for the kids to look at so that it would be more of a challenge to find the Waldo characters. I placed red and white striped shapes everywhere. Bonus: Extra shape practice for Goofy!
Can you spot Wenda?
Next, I wanted the entrance to be exciting, so I put a pool noodle arch for the kids to crawl under. I also placed some spy glasses at the entrance for the kids to use to find Waldo.
Yes, those are my boots keeping the noodle in place. :)
Tunnels need to lead to somewhere. I made the tunnel attach to the kids' new circus tent they got for Christmas. Inside the tent I placed Where's Waldo Books and puzzles, their I-Spy bag, and stuffed animals for them to read to.
Here's what it looked like half-way done:
Fun huh?
I knew I wanted to add another element to it: lights! I poked holes in the roof for Christmas lights to go through and plugged in a red spotlight for inside the tent.
This is the reaction when the kids woke up to find their tunnel all spruced up:
Looking for Waldo.
Princess found him! She had fun moving the characters around to different Velcro-ed spots in the tunnel.
Looking for Waldo in the tent.
Found him again!
Goofy liked the striped shapes the most.
What do you see Goofy?
Princess finished the Waldo puzzle too. This tunnel gave them hours of fun during the day. When night rolled around I turned on all of the lights. Here's what it looked like from the outside:
Here's the inside. You can see that the lights look like little stars on the ceiling of the tunnel.
The tent glowing red from the spotlight.
We had a blast! I love this project because I could make the tunnel themed for any book the kids are reading or any movie they like to watch.
Other things you could do/put into your tunnel:
*Paint
*Balloons
*Blankets
*Tights/stockings
What will you come up with?
Try out some of these fun activities with your kids:
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| Balloon Paddle Ball |
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| Black Light Crafts |
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