Boxcar Express

What You’ll Need:

• glue
• construction paper
• boxes or milk cartons
• scissors
• regular and thin cardboard
• a pencil
• crayons or markers
• poster paints
• metal fasteners
• small paper cups
• plastic bottle cap
• plastic 35mm film canisters
• aluminum foil
• large paper clips
• poster board or an old sheet
• paper plates
• a stapler

 

How to Make It:

1. To make a train car or the locomotive, glue paper onto a rectangular box. Leave the ends open.

2. Cut wheels from cardboard. With a pencil, punch holes in the sides of the car and in the wheels. Attach the wheels with metal fasteners. Punch a hole in the bottom of each end of the car. Put metal fasteners in these holes, with the arms sticking out of the bottom. Glue the ends of the car closed. Cover with paper.

3. Decorate the car with crayons or markers.

4. On the locomotive, glue on a small paper cup to make a smokestack, a bottle cap to make a headlight, and film canisters to make domes. Cut a small section from another paper cup to make the pilot, also called a cowcatcher, and glue it in place. To make the cab, glue on a small box covered with paper. Glue a circle of foil to the front of the headlight.

5. Connect the cars by hooking large paper clips to the metal fasteners on the bottom of each end of the cars.

6. Create a building by gluing paper onto a box or milk carton. Decorate it with markers, crayons, or cut paper. Glue on a cardboard roof and draw shingles. Make as many buildings as you like.

7. On poster board or an old sheet, use poster paints or markers to create a setting for your train, including train tracks and grass. To make a pond, glue a circle of aluminum foil to the poster board. To make a tree, cut a paper plate in half. Fold one half into a cone and staple it in place. Paint it.