Russian Dolls

I collected some cardboard boxes of different sizes. You can do this on any scale, supersize would be cool. We made sure they all fit loosely into each other and then set about painting them. We used white emulsion to cover the boxes to give us a good base to add colour. Once dried I carefully cut the heads off making sure that on the last box I only cut 3 sides so we could have a securing flip top.

Then we used normal children’s Crayola paint to add colour. (You could use more permanent paint if you wanted to make them waterproof.) Simple and effective and a good project. You could get creative and do different characters: Dr Who, Star Wars, Ben and Holly, Spongebob, your family etc. You could even do a different design on each side. We love our Russian dolls.

We headed outdoors on a camping trip to make these. Here’s how they turned out…

We set about painting the base coat with a tub of white emulsion we had in the shed.

Baby Noah helped too.

and got mucky….

…very mucky!!

We left our boxes to dry.

Once dry, I carefully cut around the tops. On the biggest box I only cut 3 sides and then just scored the 4th side to create a flap type lid.

We put the boxes back inside each other.

And headed for home.

We then set about painting our design. I drew the design with marker pen and showed the smallest members of Family Days where to paint. I kept the design bold and chunky with a basic pattern to make it easier for them.

Eden, 8, did the more intricate painting.

We put the lids on. Noah took them off again.

So I got some snaps quickly. CHEESE! Very proud kiddies.

Next time you’re at the beach, why not make Russian dolls from Limpet shells?