Home Sweet Home Photo Gallery
Difficulty: Average
Age: 7 and up
Average User Rating:
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This adorable three-dimensional house makes a perfect photo memory display. For younger children, use simple designs. Older kids will appreciate more intricate details when decorating their house.
For more great crafts that kids can make for birthdays and holidays, check out our page on great Homemade Gifts.
What you'll need:
- Toaster pastry box, or one of similar shape and size (recommended: Pop Tarts box)
- Construction paper
- Scissors
- Tacky glue
- Pennies, pebbles or modeling clay
- Tape
- Photographs of all family members (get permission from your parents first)
- Fine-tip permanent marker (recommended: Sharpie marker)
How to make it:
- The top of the box (with flaps intact) will be the top of the house.
Decide what color you would like your house to be and cover the outside with construction paper. Leave three extra inches of construction paper at the top all the way around (where the flaps are - see figure 1). - Cut slits in the construction paper at the top corners, so that the paper can fold like the flaps can. Glue the construction paper to the flaps.
- Trim the pictures into rectangular windows, or you may decide to cut carefully around the person's picture (sort of like a paper doll) and glue that to a rectangular piece of white paper to make a window.
- Decorate the house, placing the windows and a door. You might want to include your family name, a message and the year.
- Put pennies, pebbles or the modeling clay in the bottom of the box to give the project some weight and keep it from falling over.
- Fold corners of the big flaps of the top of the box inward to make an upside down "v". Fold the corners inward, but leave them sitting like tabs, so that you can glue the roof to them. Fold the small flaps down inside the box.
- Decide what color you would like your roof to be and cut the construction paper to cover it. Glue it on and then add any details you would like to your house, i.e., window boxes, shutters, flowers, ivy or anything else you like!
Tips:
- To make birds, like the one sitting on our roof, glue together two colorful pom-poms, one smaller than the other. Next glue on the end of a feather (or make one from felt or construction paper, a triangle will work). Add a small orange triangle for the beak.
- Choose photographs where each family member is alone, and try to find ones that are approximately the same size.
- Use silk flowers as a fun three-dimensional accent, or make your own from construction paper or craft foam.
