Cardboard Mailbox

Posted: January 27, 2012 | Author: Jena | Filed under: Artsy Fartsy, Building, Cut and Paste, Dadda Projects, Drawing, Imagination, Literacy, Recycling, Sculpture, Small Motor Skill, Working Together | Leave a comment »

The kids have been curious about how the mail works lately with all the holiday cards being sent out and received. Little J has also shown great passion in writing, “invitations” and “messages” on little scraps of paper. These scraps of paper are found all over the house. We went out to dinner and he was handing them out to everyone around us. With Valentine’s Day soon upon us, I thought it would be a great project to build a mailbox with the family.
I am very inspired by a cardboard post from ikatbag.

We find a big cardboard box in the garage and cut it apart to get lots of options for large flat pieces. Choosing a long strip of cardboard, we start to draw up a really simple plan.

Big K is the master architect on this project. The kids and I watch and help. He cuts strips that don’t go all the way through the cardboard, allowing the cardboard to bend and look more like the top of a real big blue Post Office mail box.

My job is to pretty much cover everything with packing tape, the top, the edges and the seams.

We get the basic shape. Big K wishes he could think and work on this on his own, so we get it “just right.” I reassure him that getting it just right wasn’t the important part of the project. It’s Sunday and we know he will be called into to inspect snow removal any minute. We just want to do something fun as a family before he has to leave, and have something fun to play with while he’s gone.

Little J traces the shape of the sides using a marker. We cut it out with utility knife and tape it to the sides.

Big K cuts out a slot on the top of the mailbox, and cuts out a square door at the side. He screws a pieces of wood to the inside of the door so he can attach a handle with screws.
I take out all the envelopes I’ve been hoarding for this project, from junk mail and holidays. The kids have fun stuffing envelopes with “invitations and messages.” They insert the envelopes into the mailbox. We are starting to get ourselves ready to make and deliver our own Valentine messages.

We have some great Valentine books to read that will compliment the mailbox well.
Little Bear’s Valentine by Else Holmelund Minarik
Valentine’s Day by Anne Rockwell
The Best Thing about Valentines by Eleanor Hudson
The Valentine Express by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace

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