How to Make Skyscrapers From Milk Cartons

Milk-carton buildings will last longer than buildings made of flimsy cardboard or paper.

Recycle milk cartons to create a cool cityscape of your own. Making a miniature city can be a creative project for kids and, if you have a few craft supplies, you won't have to spend a dime on materials. Use it as a play setting for action figures and small model cars, or as a model of a city for a school project. Milk carton skyscrapers are sturdy and can be decorated with paint, paper and other embellishments.

Things You'll Need

• Scissors
• Acrylic craft paint
• Paintbrushes
• Paper
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Craft knife
• Vellum
• Small battery-powered or electric lights

Instructions

Building the Skyscrapers

1. Collect an assortment of pint, quart and half-gallon milk containers. Rinse them clean and let them dry.

2. Cut the pointed tops off most of your cartons. Turn them upside-down for flat-topped roof buildings. Leave a couple of cartons with the pointed top on so some of your buildings can have sloped rooftops. Leave these right-side-up.

3. Paint your carton with acrylic craft paint. Silver or gray are ideal, but you can make your buildings whatever color you wish. It takes about three coats of acrylic paint to cover a carton evenly. Allow 30 minutes drying time between coats.

4. Cut small 1- to 2-inch-sized squares out of paper or cardstock. These squares will be windows. Use black paper for dark windows, yellow or white paper for lighted windows or silver-metallic paper for windows with a glassy shine. You'll need anywhere from 10 to 25 squares per building, depending on the sizes of your cartons.

5. Glue the squares to your building in even rows and columns. Let the glue dry and set up your skyscrapers.

Lighting Up the Skyscrapers

1. Omit some or most of the paper windows in your skyscrapers. In place of the paper squares, cut square holes the same size (1 inch to 2 inches square) using a craft knife.

2. Cut pieces of vellum paper that are slightly larger than the windows. Glue the vellum squares to the inside of the box, covering the open windows. When you're working with a milk carton with a pointed roof, cut the bottom off so you can get your hand inside to cover the windows.

3. Buy some small battery-powered lights, such as jack-o-lantern lights or the lights for Christmas village buildings. Turn them on and place your skyscrapers over them so your cityscape scene will light up.