Transform an old cardboard box into a haunted house Halloween decoration.
Cardboard boxes can be recycled into countless items, from pretend televisions that children can sit inside to play act to holiday decorations. You can easily make a haunted house out of a cardboard box and set the box on your front porch or inside your window. Depending on the size of the box you use, you can also use the haunted house indoors as a toy for children. Children can even help you with this project; just make sure you do the box cutting.
Instructions
1. Cut the cardboard box into the shape of a house. Start with a box that measures a minimum of 2 cubic feet. Cut off the opening flaps of the box with a utility knife, and then cut 6 inches off the top of two opposite sides of the box. Cut triangles into the two remaining taller sides of the box to create roof peaks.
2. Trim openings for doors and windows in the haunted house with the utility knife. The size of the windows and doors will depend upon the entire size of the cardboard box, so just make the windows and doors reasonably sized for the box you are working with.
3. Measure the top opening to determine the appropriate size for cardboard pieces for the roof. The two pieces should be slightly wider and longer than the openings on the top of the box, and they will rest atop the roof peak you cut out in Step 1.
4. Line the ground or a sidewalk with old newspaper. Set the haunted house pieces onto the newspaper, and spray paint the house gray and the roof black. Allow the paint to dry for a few hours. Work outdoors to avoid mess and to keep paint fumes outside your home.
5. Attach the roof of the haunted house with strips of tape or a liberal amount of glue along the top edges of the box. Allow glue to dry for an hour or longer before moving the house; always avoid lifting the cardboard haunted house by its roof.
6. Draw and color monsters and ghosts to glue inside the window and door openings of the haunted house. If you cannot draw, find ghost and goblin outlines on the Internet, and print them so your kids can color them with markers and crayons.
7. Cut out the ghosts and goblins, and glue them to the insides of the haunted house. Position them to look out the windows and doors.
Tags: haunted house, windows doors, cardboard into, haunted house, haunted house with, house with