Turn an old milk carton into a large dice for your toddler. We chose to put color blocks on the outside of ours to help teach Em her colors. Katie from Katie's Nesting Spot has a great dice game you can play to teach colors.You can put numbers to teach counting, pictures of animals to get ready for a trip to the zoo, pictures of family members photos to help learn names... If you think up a cool way to use the dice let me know. I may want to try it!
What you need: Milk/OJ Carton, Ruler, Scissors or Box Cutter, Marker, Glue (Mod Podge), Brush (I like to use a foam brush), Hot Glue Gun or Strong Glue, Color Squares or Pictures
Measure one side of the base of your carton. Use that measurement to then measure up the sides - marking all sides. Draw a line connecting all your marks around all 4 sides. ONLY CUT 3 OF THE SIDES!!! Leave the 4th side as the top flap. See below.
On the 4th side - measure up from your original line to create a perfect square. This will be tour top. Add a 1/4 - 1/2 inch for the flap. Cut angled sides (see picture.)
Fold down lid into box. Scoring helps with the folding. Glue. Hot glue is the easiest method.
Now it is time to decorate your box. I cut 6 color blocks and used Mod Podge to affix them to the cube. I made my squares slightly smaller than each side so I didn't have to worry about a perfect fit.
This was an easy project and the girls love rolling the dice. I will need to make more because Lu is already making up games to play with the dice. I think 2 will just add to the fun.
Have fun crafting with your kids!
What a fun idea, I love this. And it would be SO much easier to find the dice in the game cabinet. I'll be linking.
ReplyDeleteVery clever! There never seems to be a shortage of milk cartons around here!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea to use a milk carton, as not everyone has a husband with access to countless empty shipping boxes like mine seems too. It's a great activity to modify as needed for whatever skill you are working on.
ReplyDeleteWhen the kids are much older, you can try working on word families with it. I used it in my K class. I'd write a word on each side: cat, pig, pen, etc. The kids would roll it and whatever word showed up on top they'd have to write a different word from that family on their sheet. So for cat, maybe they'd write mat. It practiced handwriting too and it wasn't really a game but the kids thought it was. I just gave them a sheet with five lines drawn on it. They had to fill all their lines to "win" and come get a sticker. But they loved it.
Thanks Katie! I will definitely be making more of these. It is a huge hit with both girls. They really enjoy your game and had fun TAKING TURNS (OMG!!!) while playing tonight.
ReplyDeleteMama King, you rock! This is pretty cool. Love that it's recycled.
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