Try these 5 fun ideas to DIY cardboard into toys and building materials for kids. These are great recycled projects for the whole family!
Updated April 2025
Here at The Artful Parent, we are big fans of recycled art projects for kids. Art is an important avenue through which we can teach kids of ways to reduce waste and reuse materials in totally new ways. And cardboard is a great place to start! Not only is it a sturdy canvas for lots of drawing and collage projects, it also is a great building material.
We are featuring five of our favorite building and construction toys that you can make yourself with cardboard. And the best part is this material is totally free and you likely have some in your recycling bin right now.
So grab a cardboard box and choose one of the following projects to do with your kids!
DIY Cardboard Toys You Can Make Yourself
1. Cardboard Building Discs
Create these amazing open-ended sculptures with DIY cardboard building discs! You can build as big as you like, if you make enough building discs! We think they would be fun to try in different sizes, too.
2. 3D Rainbow Sculptures
These three-dimensional rainbow sculptures are so fun! Simply slot the shapes together loosely (inspiration from Eames’ House of cards). You can also create cool sculptural trees using the same technique with recycled cardboard tubes.
3. DIY Magnetic Building Set
Explore magnetic properties and building with different shapes! Use cardboard to make your own magnetic building set to use and reuse for construction and education!
4. A DIY Cardboard Castle
Build your own castle, complete with drawbridge and moat! Construct your own cardboard castle, either from your imagination or recreate from history for an educational spin. Or make a dollhouse for pretend play.
5. A Cardboard Pretend Play Forest
Create an amazing magic forest with this easy cardboard art project for kids. Makes a fun creative play setup for kids.
We hope this gives you some fun ideas for building and learning with cardboard! We’d love to see what you’ve made. Tag us on Instagram #theartfulparent.
More DIY Cardboard Building Ideas
- 10 Cardboard Art Ideas for Kids
- How to Build Cardboard Tube Sculptures
- How to Make Cardboard Robot Puppets
- Build a Gigantic Rocket out of Recycled Cardboard Boxes!
- Make Cardboard Masks for Kids
- How to Make Cardboard Looms
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