The wooden farm animals came with a beautiful handmade ark that we gave Big Buddy for Christmas a couple years ago. I would someday love to have a wood barn but it's currently not in the budget. So in the mean time we decided to improvise and make our own.
I stumbled upon this perfectly sized milk box (4 gallons per box) while subbing and thought it would be sturdy enough to handle play. Hubandie and the boys used an x-acto knife and wood glue to build a barn shape.
to get the doors to fold out hubandie used an x-acto knife and scored the inside of the cardboard |
We then painted with a basic primer and outlined a window and a door with painters tape.
cardboard is very porous so priming is a must if you want decent coverage |
Big Buddy however insisted that we add more windows so it looked like the barn in our book The Big Red Barn. He even brought the book over so we'd know exactly how to do it :)
Once everything was taped I let the boys paint the barn with rollers and washable, red tempera paint.
The boys really enjoyed working together and broke out in to fits of giggles several times.
We let the red paint dry and then Big Buddy used a foam brush and washable, black tempera paint to do the roof.
Mini Man doesn't believe in staying in lines yet so we did this while he napped :) |
When all the paint was dry we pulled off the tape...
And started enjoying our brand new toy.
Even though we are done with our farm unit, this will be on our playroom shelves for awhile. It's not wood or super fancy but the fact they had such hand in its creation, makes it very special.
Please check out our farm unit for more farm fun learning ideas. You can also find lots more units and crafts on our homeschool page.
What an amazing barn and fun project. I love it.
ReplyDeleteThis is ADORABLE!! I only wish I had seen it a week earlier so we could do it with our C is for cow untit!! Love it!
ReplyDeleteI would love for you to link up at my TGIF Linky Party - http://livinglifeintentionally.blogspot.com/search/label/Linkey%20Parties
~Beth
Wow, so clever...LOVE!!!
ReplyDeleteI would love it if you would link this to my blog linky party called Hey Mom, Look What I Did at Adventures In Mommy Land!!
I LOVE it! So cute!
ReplyDeleteWhat fun, half the fun (if not more) is making the barn. But surely it will be fun to play with as well. Thanks for sharing on Monday Madness!
ReplyDeleteIt turned out really nice!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a great project! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteBecause every Midwestern barn needs a stegosaurus. My kind of thinking.
ReplyDeleteThids is very cool! we love cardboard box stuff! We made a race track this week!
ReplyDeleteGreat job! Love how the children helped make it.
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing barn! I bet your guys love it.
ReplyDeleteThis is great and I love how much they helped! My son is also an animal lover and has tons of little animal toys. He has currently been using my daughters doll house as his barn... my father saw that and decided he is going to build him a barn to put with the doll house. ;) I think it will be a great hit. Thanks for linking with What little boys are made of!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fabulous barn! Love how you used the rollers to get a perfect finish. Am "saving" this post for "Box Get Crafty" round up - publishing 1 Jan. Perfect.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing on Kids Get Crafty!
Maggy
That is a great barn! I love that he used his book to see how he wanted the windows. Nice work. I will be sharing this tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing at Monday Madness. Hope to see you back again tomorrow.
what a fabulous little barn! I shared on FB!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing on the Sunday Showcase. Hope to see you this week -
http://momto2poshlildivas.blogspot.com/search/label/Sunday%20Showcase
Bern
Such a cute barn. I love the roller idea, my daughter gets bored using a paint brush for big projects. Bet shed love this.
ReplyDelete