How to Make a Toddler Lunchbox

Decorate the lunchbox with pictures related to your kid's favorite topics.

A lunchbox for your little kid must be both durable, keeping food and drinks safe, and also trendy, so that your child does not have to hide it away from his friends. Commercial lunchboxes come in a variety of sizes, shapes and materials, but for your homemade lunchbox, a tin box is the best option. Tin is a strong material that also allows you to keep the meal fresh. You can use a cuboid tin cookies box, a tin cigar box or even large cosmetics tin boxes for this craft.

Things You'll Need

• Tin box
• Construction paper
• Instant glue
• Coloring pens
• Ruler
• Handheld slot punch
• Ribbon

Instructions

1. Wash the tin box thoroughly to remove any smells. This is especially important if the box was previously used to store cigars or cosmetics, for example.

2. Glue a construction paper sheet on the surface of the tin box's lid and another sheet on the box's large back side. The construction papers must cover the whole surface of the sides.

3. Use coloring pens to draw pictures related to your toddler's favorite topics, creating a space-themed, superhero-themed or train-themed box, for example. Ask your toddler to draw the pictures herself, if you don't plan to offer the box as a surprise gift.

4. Remove the lid from the box. Use a ruler to determine the middle point of the box's top side. Measure two inches to the left of the middle point and two inches to the right of the point and mark the spots with a dot.

5. Punch two holes with a handheld slot punch. Place the two ends of a 15-inch-long piece of colorful ribbon through the holes. Form two knots on each of the ribbon's ends -- so that they cannot go through the holes -- to create the lunchbox's handle.

6. Close the lid and tie a piece of ribbon around the box, keeping the lid firmly attached. Toddlers are too young to learn how to untie and retie the ribbon around the box, so show them how to slide the ribbon off the box and then slide it back on instead.

Resources

• BBC Norfolk: Go to School With Something Tasty