Cardboard car or wagon

If your house is anything like mine... you might have piles of boxes lying around.  One activity we did today was we made a mini cardboard wagon/car.

You need a circular object to trace circles onto scrap pieces of cardboard.  The Amazon.com/Amazon.ca shipping boxes aren't too thick and are easier to cut.  I just traced circles onto the box flaps and used the rest of the box as the wagon.  I cut off the flaps and cut out the circles.  I got my 6 yr old to cut out some of the circles too.  My circles had a 9.5cm diameter, but you can make them any size you want.

The kids decorated the circles (which will become the tires for the car/wagon) and marked the center of each circle.  I poked a hole through the center for them.  After, we line up where we want the tires on the car to go and I use a pencil to poke through the hole on the tire circles to mark the spot on the box.  I poke holes at the marked spots with scissors.

Finally we attach the tires.

I picked up a box of round head paper fasteners from Staples.  These are fun to make clocks, robot arm/leg attachments or if you need to make other moving parts on some sort of creation!  Anyhow, you should have a box of these in your craft drawer!

You just push the fastener through the tire hole and the box hole, then open up the prongs.  I tape down the prongs onto the box.  Then we're done.

I was happy that the wheels do roll across the floor and carpet, but you need to be gentle playing with it.  My 2 yr old kept trying to get into the car and was disappointed when the tires folded over.  I tried to convince her that it was just for toys.  My 6 yr old was more careful with his car.  He didn't mark the center of his tires perfectly so his car is more wobbly.  I guess it just adds character.