We wanted to start a Christmas tradition of writing letters to Santa, so to make it complete, we are going to make our own little mailbox out of cardboard!
You will need:
- cardboard box
- box cutter / scissors
- glue gun or tape
- velcro dots
- paint (optional)
Start off by cutting out some cardboard pieces. You will need:
- one long rectangle shape
- two long thin strips
- one rectangle piece with a curved end
- another curved piece
- a small L shape for the flag
- two small rectangle strips for the handle
We are going to roll up the long rectangle piece until it folds over itself. Keep one side flat for the bottom of the mail and roll the rest over so that it curves. Glue this together.
Next, slide the rectangle piece with the curve inside the mailbox. This will allow your mailbox to open and shut. Glue into place.
The second curved piece fits on the back of the mailbox and can be glued shut.
Next we will add the two thin long pieces to both ends.
We will place a small piece inside the top of the mailbox so that we can keep the mailbox shut.
I used velcro dots so that it can easily open and close. We will also use velcro dots for our flag to show if there is mail inside or not.
By placing 3 velcro dots in an L shape, we can pull off the flag and place it either in a vertical or horizontal position.
Now all that is left is to paint it! We went with a bright red and added the letters “MAIL” to the side.
And it is all ready for play! We plan on using this for our letters to Santa but it also works all year round. Our hope is that as our daughter gets older, she will write us letters and notes and put it in the mailbox for us to read (and vice versa)!
