Bring STEAM Home: Build a Cardboard City

At Little Sunshine’s Playhouse & Preschool, our Creatively Shine™ curriculum theme, “Can You Build It? Discovering STEAM Through Construction”, inspires children to think like architects, engineers, and creators. To continue the excitement at home, we’ve designed a hands-on activity that combines creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork: Building a Cardboard City!

This activity encourages your child to explore concepts like structure, design, and collaboration while using their imagination to create their own miniature city.

What You’ll Need:

Cardboard boxes (various sizes)
Construction paper or cardstock
Markers, crayons, or colored pencils
Child-safe scissors
Glue, tape, or a stapler
Recyclable materials: bottle caps, paper towel rolls, egg cartons, etc.
Ruler (optional, for precise lines)
Toy cars, figures, or animals for play (optional)

Step-by-Step Guide:

1. Design Your City:

Start by talking with your child about what makes up a city. Ask questions like:

What buildings does a city need? (Homes, schools, libraries, stores, etc.)
What other features are in a city? (Roads, parks, bridges, etc.)

Encourage your child to sketch their ideas on paper, thinking about how to place buildings, roads, and green spaces to create a functional and fun city layout.

2. Build the Structures:

Help your child transform cardboard boxes and recyclable materials into buildings, bridges, and towers. Here’s how:

Use small boxes or cut out cardboard rectangles to create buildings.
Decorate the buildings with construction paper, drawing windows, doors, and signs.
Use paper towel rolls or egg cartons to create unique structures like towers or tunnels.

Encourage experimentation with shapes and materials, such as creating triangular rooftops or using bottle caps as wheels for a tiny bus station.

3. Create Roads and Parks:

Lay out construction paper or large pieces of cardboard to serve as the base for your city. Add:

Roads: Draw roads using markers or cut black construction paper into strips and add white lines for lanes.
Parks: Use green construction paper for grass and add trees made from rolled paper or pipe cleaners.
Sidewalks: Cut thin strips of gray paper for sidewalks or pathways

4. Add Finishing Touches:

Let your child personalize their city with fun details:

Use bottle caps to make fountains or traffic lights.
Add figures like toy people, cars, or animals for interactive play.
Create street signs or city names using scrap paper and markers.

5. Play and Learn:

Once your city is complete, encourage your child to engage in pretend play. They can drive toy cars through the streets, have characters visit buildings, or expand their city with new structures. This open-ended play fosters problem-solving, storytelling, and creativity.

Why It’s Great:

Building a cardboard city enhances fine motor skills, spatial awareness, and planning abilities. It introduces children to key STEAM concepts like design, structure, and collaboration. By experimenting with materials and layouts, your child develops creativity and critical thinking skills.

Encourage your child to revisit and expand their city over time, adding new features like airports, farms, or skyscrapers. This evolving project provides endless opportunities for creativity and exploration.