DIY Toy: Mail Box

Summer likes to pretend to write letters and drop them in an imaginary mail box. Her pretend mail box would usually be our couch and she would sandwich pieces of paper in between throw pillows. But of course, somebody (usually Emma) would accidentally move the pillows around and wreck her imaginary mail box to her utter dismay.

So last week, I decided to make a cardboard mailbox for and with her as a craft activity. As you probably already know, we never run out of cardboard boxes!

1. I used a medium sized box and sealed the flaps shut using glue and masking tape, leaving only the top part open.

2. On one side I cut out an opening with a slot in the middle for dropping the mail. Using the strip of cardboard I carved out to make the mail slot, I made a handle for the opening. To secure the handle, I cut out two holes about 3 inches apart just above the mail slot and inserted the ends of the cardboard strip in them and glued it inside to make sure it doesn’t get easily pulled out.

3. To make it look more like a mail box (and less like a baking oven :P), I trimmed the top flaps of the box into semi circles and with the help of some hot glue, covered the opening with a piece of cardboard, carefully bending it to create a rounded top.

4. And because purple is Summer’s current favorite, she requested for her mail box to be in that color. But instead of painting the entire thing, I only painted the edges and the top part to save paint. I attached cut out letters saying MAIL and drew a little flying envelope on the front.

     
5. What’s a mailbox without any mail, right? So Summer and I made our own letters and envelopes in different shapes, sizes and colors. I also made her some pretend stamps which she stuck on the envelopes herself. She even “wrote” addresses on each mail.

     
Summer enjoyed her toy mail box very much. She kept sending mail, inserting the envelopes in the slot and opening the flap every so often to check her mail.

But I must say it didn’t last very long. The constant sending and retrieving of mail caused it to come apart after only three days! (LOL! ) But that doesn’t really matter because that otherwise worthless piece of junk encouraged creative and imaginitive play for hours. It also didn’t cost me anything at all! Maybe we’ll even make another one. 🙂

How about you? What creative things are you planning to do with your kids this week? I’d love to hear about them! 😀