Diaper Box Building Blocks

Boys love to build!  And, I am sick of my couch cushions being used as fort walls.  Inspired by the giant lego bricks at the lego party, I decided to create some everyday building blocks for the boys.  The boys loved playing with the big blocks, but wrapping paper and crepe paper is not that durable.  To create something durable for the boys, I started with the same base…a diaper box.  I have been stockpiling empty diaper boxes in the nursery closet (more out of laziness than anything else).  I used a couple different sizes to make the giant lego brick and lego piñata.  I still had half a dozen more.  Now, how to make them durable enough for the boys to build with everyday?

Did you know duct tape comes in colors?  I first spotted the sunshine yellow duck brand tape at Home Depot.  Then I found teal at Target.  Each roll was about $3.  Covering the diaper boxes in colored duct tape seemed like a durable and colorful option.

I used 2 rolls of yellow, 2 rolls of teal (I still have one teal box to finish), and a role of Scotch Tough Tape I had on hand to cover 6 diaper boxes.  The colors are some of my favorite, so I won’t mind them being around the family room when the boys are playing (better than my couch cushions).  The duct tape makes them durable enough to stand up to two rowdy toddlers.

To cover each box:

1. I started with the handle.  I thought it would be nice for the boxes to have handles to move around.  I used 1″ strips of tape to cover the edges of the hanlde.  Simply take the strip of tape and fold it over the handle opening.  Cover the entire edge of the handle.  (If your boxes do not have handles, you may want to cut some.)
2. Cover each end of the box with overlapping strips of tape.  wrap the tape 1-2″ around the corner of the box.  Don’t worry about the ladle…cover right over it.
3. Cut a slit in the tape covering the handle opening.  Snip about every half inch around the handle opening,  Fold the tape to the inside of the handle.
4. Now it is time to wrap the rest of the box with tape.  Start in one corner on the bottom.  Wrap a piece of tape all the way around the box overlapping the tape from the ends of the box.  Overlap the starting point and then cut the tape.  Begin another row of tape that slightly overlaps the first.  Continue until the entire box is covered.  Note: I overlapped the yellow tape more, because it provided less coverage than the others.
5. Let’s the kids build forts and castles!

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