How to Make a Fairytale Castle

Make a fairytale castle using household supplies.

When you have a child that enjoys playing with castles and fairy princess dolls, you can encourage this type of creative play by showing her how to construct her own fairytale castle. You could buy a pre-made castle from a toy store, but making a fairytale castle out of oatmeal containers and cereal boxes is more creative and exciting for kids. Everything you need in order to create a fairytale castle can be found around the house or purchased from an art store.

Things You'll Need

• Oatmeal containers
• Cereal boxes
• Paper cone cups
• Tempera paint
• Paintbrush
• Hot glue stick
• Hot glue gun
• Glitter glue
• Markers
• Stickers

Instructions

1. Paint the outside of four oatmeal containers, 12 cereal boxes and four paper cone cups using tempera paint. Allow the paint to dry for 30 minutes.

2. Insert a hot glue stick into a hot glue gun, and plug in the hot glue gun to heat it up for five minutes.

3. Squeeze a line of hot glue along one short end on one of the cereal boxes, then press the short end of a second cereal box onto the hot glued box. Allow the hot glue to cool for one minute. Repeat this process to glue together a rectangular form.

4. Squeeze a line of hot glue along one of the corners on the rectangle, and press one of the oatmeal containers upright onto the hot glue-covered corner. Allow the hot glue to cool for one minute. Repeat to glue an oatmeal container onto each corner.

5. Squeeze a line of hot glue around the opening of a paper cone cup, and press the cone onto the top of one of the oatmeal containers. Repeat to glue a cone onto each of the oatmeal containers. Allow the hot glue to cool for one minute.

6. Decorate the outside of the fairytale castle using glitter glue, colorful markers and stickers. Allow the glitter glue to dry for 20 minutes before playing with the fairytale castle.

Tips & Warnings

• Paint the castle using gray or brown paint to make it look realistic, or use colorful paint to make the castle more artistic.

• Keep hot glue out of the reach of children.

• Hot glue can cause serious burns on skin.

References

• Easy Toddler Crafts: Toddler Castle Craft
• Family Fun: The Great Cardboard Castle