Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Car Ramps from Cereal Boxes

Car Ramps from Cereal BoxesCars have been popular with my children, both boys and girls, and this idea gives your resident Lightning McQueen hours of fun. Use old cereal boxes (and don't tell me you haven't got plenty of those lying around, we eat cold cereal here like it's going out of style) to cut chutes for little Matchbox cars to pass through, making your own system of highways, freeways, overpasses and intersections.

Cut the cereal boxes in half lengthwise, leaving the left and right side flaps to act as guard rails. With a collection of these the possibilities are endless--you could recreate the California freeway system from the comfort of your own kitchen floor.

In the pictures here Spencer, David and Lillian taped the box chutes together to make a car run that extended across the kitchen and into the living room, they even got Cain involved who contributed his own boxes to the project.

"I've got so many boxes, I had to get a big box to hold all the little boxes!" he said when he showed up on the doorstep. They propped the ramps on stacks of encyclopedias--I knew there was a reason I held onto those things--and the whole activity was accompanied by many "awesome!"s and "cool!"s as they shot the cars across the room.

***

Wednesday is the last day to enter The Write-Away Contest--hope to see you there!

Check in with Rocks in My Dryer every Wednesday for other good tips.

Technorati tags:

22 comments:

Shawna said...

Great idea! My boys will love this. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

I love how they were so creative! What fun! Thanks for sharing.

Mrs. O said...

My son would be thinking, so that's what books are for.

What a fun idea for those winter days that are sure to be coming.

Robin said...

Very clever!

la bellina mammina said...

Cool idea...my boys have fun with this too!

Sarah @ Ordinary Days said...

My boys would love this!

Michelle Constantinescu said...

Nothing better than a do-it-yourself toy! Those were always my favorite. You actually have to use the gray matter! Now, tell the truth - you played too, didn't you? Just looks like too much fun!

Crafty P said...

Off to grab that HUGE box of Honey Nut Cheerios out of the garbage. We go through cereal like it's water!!! Thanks for the great idea!

Anonymous said...

Hmm I have about 8 boxes of 'loathed but healthy' cereal that's been hanging around for probably as many months. Maybe it would be less 'wasteful' to recycle it in this manner and give up on the healthy eating campaign.
Cheers

Heffalump said...

We usually use a large board of some kind, but with cereal boxes I think there would be those opportunities to make the track go uphill a little and then back down. My boys would love this.

Amy said...

You are so creative! What's it like to be the coolest mom on the block?

Lisa said...

Very cool. Looks like you are coming up with all kinds of things to keep your boys busy!

The Estrogen Files said...

Good idea - I guess we'll have to start buying the box cereal instead of the bags.

Anonymous said...

My boys would love that! I'm sure I'd have a horrible time actually getting them to throw it away when they were done but they would think it was great.

K T Cat said...

Totally cool! Try using those cardboard oatmeal cans for tunnels, too.

Creative-Type Dad said...

That's a cool idea!

I remember being all crafty like that as a kid, but never with the cereal boxes.

Family O'Foxes said...

wow, your kids did a great job. thanks for the idea. I will share it with my kids!
~Amy

Anonymous said...

My boys do this too... cardboard box lids as well.

luckyzmom said...

Clever, very clever. Boxes are the best toys ever.

Unknown said...

Great idea.

We used the boxes up side down, with a hole on each side, so they became tunnels and underground stations.

Kimmie said...

Oh, my sons will love this idea, do you mind if I use it? Great fun and recycling too!

Kimmie
mama to 6
one homemade and 5 adopted

Anonymous said...

I remember playing cars when I was a kid. When got old enough to drive, everything changes. Driving is not as fun as before. The excitement to driving is not the same as well. Now, it has to be a responsibility not a place of fantasy and fan.