I love that this craft has a useful purpose as well as looking great in the kiddies rooms, and you get to do some recycling too.
You need a sturdy shoebox, 2 or 3 empty card rolls, newspaper torn into small strips, glue and paint.
Cut the card rolls into thirds and place on your shoe box lid in two lines. If your box is smaller you may think two rows of three looks better.
Secure the toilet rolls to the lid using some of the strips of newspaper dipped in glue. Use long thin pieces to cover the top of the toilet rolls making sure you smooth them down well. Continue to cover the rest of the lid with the strips of newspaper until you have three layers over the entire lid. I don’t wait for each layer to dry as I am too impatient. I think of this as a basic form of papier mache.
Make sure you don’t fold the paper under the rim of the lid as you will make it smaller and it won’t fit on the box.
Leave to dry thoroughly.
Paint the box and lid with a good craft paint (if you are going to use a light coloured paint, you may like to use white paper on your last layer of papier mache so the words won’t show through). Leave to dry. To make it even hardier, and also if you have used a cheaper poster paint, you might also want to seal it with a craft varnish.
