Cereal Box Reindeers

It’s Christmas activity time! Yayyyy!!! Time to pop on those Christmas carols, and get those kids into some serious crafty festive fun.

Maybe you need some fresh inspiration for holiday activities this year? Well this reindeer sculpture activity is a fun challenge for your kids, and it will cost you nothing. You just need a recycled cereal box, plus scissors, pva glue, a pencil and black pen.

The cereal box can be any size, they all have two large sides and two skinny sides. The larger cereal boxes will just make larger reindeers. 

Flatten out your box by cutting down one of the outside edges. Cut down each fold so you have two large rectangles and two long skinny rectangles. Now the matching rectangles get glued back-to-back, so you have two robust card rectangles, and all the branding is hidden. To glue, use a thin layer of PVA glue all over, the glue can be spread all over the cardboard using one of the cereal box tabs cut off the ends. To get the glue to set flat, sandwich the pieces under a few books for at least 5 minutes, but as long as a few hours. It could be a good idea to do this at the start of the day, and finish it later in the afternoon.

Draw your reindeer pieces on one side using a lead pencil. You will need a body/head in one piece, a set of antlers (simple version), and two sets of legs. The legs must be thick and chunky or they won’t be strong enough to keep your reindeer standing. 

Once you are happy with all your reindeer pieces cut them out carefully. Decorate both sides of each piece as you like, make them very festive (perhaps add in some glitter?) or keep it simple like me with some bold black lines. Rudolph will need a red nose. 

The leg pieces will need a short snip at the top curve, around 2cm deep, and the body will need some cuts for them to fit into, again around 2 cm, but these measurements will change depending on your reindeer size. Best to cut conservatively and check how they fit, then readjust to avoid mistakes. Do the same with the antlers. 

Slot your pieces together like a puzzle and stand up your reindeer sculpture. This will be a great 3D challenge for your students with an effective result the kids will want to keep.

Keep in mind that this same technique could be used to make all sorts of four legged animals. 

I absolutely love this idea – it is a great upcycling project, it teaches kids how to transform 2D into 3D, it involves cutting skills, and construction/ problem solving skills too. What a satisfying project – turning an old cereal box into a Christmas reindeer!

Hope you can make some time to do this project with your kids at home, or in the classroom over these last couple of weeks of school. A good one to keep in reserve for the end of a busy day.

Happy creating!

Tracy x