Anyone fancy a trip into Space? Let’s make it happen. All you need is a cardboard box, some creativity and a lot of imagination. And a small person or two!

Penguin, my 5 year old, loves Space. An astronaut suit and a rather large cardboard box was the birth of this latest creation.

We kept the shape of the box and used the flaps to create the beginning of the rocket’s nose. The box was originally home to a dishwasher and had no bottom. We used parcel tape to secure the shape (this was a temporary solution). Penguin wanted doors that he had to crawl through to get into the rocket. Using scissors this was quite straight forward.

We had some other cardboard (which I believe was also part of the dishwasher packaging), this was used to make triangles that completed the rockets nose. From previous large box projects I knew the parcel tape wouldn’t be strong enough to withstand any level of play (not sure why it’s so useless). We painted strips of red paper with watered down PVA glue to secure the joints and also down the sides to make the rocket look smart!

We made the fins from the off cuts of cardboard and attached these with the red paper and PVA. We made the fins so they didn’t quite touch the floor, this was more for practical play reasons. Penguin and Little Missy play  hard and this little rocket would move a lot.  This decision might give this little rocket a longer life.

Using a craft knife I cut round windows out of the rocket. Penguin and Little Missy embellished the rocket with some stars and planets. I stuck some some tin foil covered milk bottle tops on the side of the rocket, Penguin told me these are lights. I also stuck some inside (using a glue gun), these are buttons to launch the rocket.

Now it was time to go into outer space…

And more exploration…

And some more…

Have you seen any cardboard box up-cycled projects that you love? I’d love to hear about them!

This post is linked with