How to Decorate Wooden Boxes

This is a great craft to do at a child's birthday party, especially when the weather outside makes it difficult to play outdoors. Decorating a blank wooden box gives each child a chance to paint, glue and explore their creative and artistic talents. There are a variety of styles of wooden boxes to start with---some have lids with hinges, some have free, unattached lids, and some are lid-free altogether. A trip to the art supply store can help supply your young artists with many decorations---the end product will be different with each different set of hands! The great part about the finished wooden box is that the child will have a beautiful box they can use at home for treasures. Here's how to get them started.

Things You'll Need

• Wooden boxes
• Glue
• Paints
• Paintbrushes
• Newspaper
• Buttons
• Glitter
• Beads
• Stickers
• Sequins
• Shells
• Felt squares
• Feathers
• Small stones or jewels
• Pieces of material

Instructions

1. Visit your thrift store or art supply store and buy a number of wooden boxes. Pick a variety of different styles and sizes. Make sure there is enough flat space on each box for the artist to work with. Always buy more boxes than there are children, because children often want to decorate more than one.

2. Pick up a ton of different small art supplies that would be fun to use to decorate the boxes. Small, fake jewels, paints, paintbrushes, squares of felt and felt designs---anything that would make a box look great. Don't forget the glue.

3. Give each child their choice of a box to decorate. Have an area set aside with your supplies all set up in separate dishes and newspaper on the table to protect it from the glue.

4. Show the kids how to paint their boxes first, if they desire a painted background. As the paint dries, have them look at the different art supplies and plan out what they'd like to use on their box to decorate it.

5. Have the children glue different decorations onto the box. Some children will enjoy making designs or rows of decorations, while some will make a random pattern. When they are done gluing all their objects, have them pick a color of felt square for the bottom of the box, and have them glue it on. Allow to dry. The kids will have a treasure to take home from the party!