Recycling Bin Castle

I haven't posted in awhile - over a year - but I've been thinking I'd like to get back to the blog. I came upon these pictures while looking at the past year and thought this project would make a good post.

Nicholas is fascinated with fairy tales, princesses, knights, and castles. I thought it would be neat to make a castle out of recyclables, which we always have on hand (much to Brian's chagrin). Finally, one long winter afternoon, inspiration hit and I did a google search to get further ideas. The Family Fun website had some great ideas for a castle made of boxes. http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/the-great-cardboard-castle-668698/

Some of the ideas we copied directly and others we improvised. Once we got going, it really took very little time. We attached the parts with masking tape, and so far it's held up after almost a year of frequent use. Once it was put together N painted it grey with acrylic paint. Then I cut a small rectangle out of a sponge, and N and I went to town painting on darker grey bricks to make it look a little more realistic.

Some of my favorite features are the dixie cup and egg carton balconies, the toilet paper tube turrets, and the drawbridge. The drawbridge is definitely N's favorite feature. To make the drawbridge stand out, I twisted up newspaper into a snake and taped it around the opening. It gives the effect of stone.

Once we had a castle, dolls were needed. I bought a set of Melissa & Doug Royal Family Dolls before realizing I really could have just used Playmobil figures. Any small figures would work: Little People, Imaginext, even action figures. Later on I bought a dragon at Michael's and a small witch doll, which have added to the fun.

The castle has a permanent spot in an out-of-the-way spot in our living room, and it gets played with several times a week, if not daily.

Materials:
shoebox
pasta box
2 cans
2 metal tea cannisters
2 toilet paper tubes
herbal tea box
egg carton

1 sheet of newspaper
grey acrylic paint
black acrylic paint
masking tape