Cardboard Box Cars
We had worked our family budget to include a weekly take away treat for the family. After looking at our budget again, Daddy and I realised that this is going to be a monthly treat, but we still want to have this special Saturday family time each week. I was thinking about it and came up with an idea of how we could make our own take away meal at home a little more special. The first part of my plan was to convince Daddy that my plan was a good idea. Luckily, Daddy loves having fun just like me and so he was eager to join in with the plan. We decided to keep it a secret until the last moment from the children but still set off as a family to Tesco to get a few cardboard boxes.
We asked the Children to decorate the boxes like cars and they eagerly started decorating with the assortment of pens, crayons, pencils and stamps that we own with their own theme in mind (Top Ender went for fairies and Big Boy chose Dinosaurs).
I cut out circles of card to make steering wheels and then set about making my own car (I'm just a big kid at heart!) whilst Top Ender and Big Boy started playing with the cars they had made. They had great fun pretending to get their cars stuck in mud, pushing the cars up and down the living room and then parking the in the car park. They still weren't sure what was going on, but the freshly made doughnuts that Daddy was supplying them with and the chance to be creative kept them happy. When they saw my car they decided to make a few more additions to their own cars, mainly adding number plates and headlights just like mine!
When they were finally sure that they had coloured their boxes to perfection we asked them to climb in and drive to town to run a few chores for us. They both sat eagerly in their cars waiting to find out their task, and then Daddy told them they were to go to McDonalds to collect their lunch. I covered my hand with my mouth and talking like the muffled drive through tannoy asked to take their order, before advising them to move to window one and then on to window two to collect their food.
We asked the Children to decorate the boxes like cars and they eagerly started decorating with the assortment of pens, crayons, pencils and stamps that we own with their own theme in mind (Top Ender went for fairies and Big Boy chose Dinosaurs).
I cut out circles of card to make steering wheels and then set about making my own car (I'm just a big kid at heart!) whilst Top Ender and Big Boy started playing with the cars they had made. They had great fun pretending to get their cars stuck in mud, pushing the cars up and down the living room and then parking the in the car park. They still weren't sure what was going on, but the freshly made doughnuts that Daddy was supplying them with and the chance to be creative kept them happy. When they saw my car they decided to make a few more additions to their own cars, mainly adding number plates and headlights just like mine!
When they were finally sure that they had coloured their boxes to perfection we asked them to climb in and drive to town to run a few chores for us. They both sat eagerly in their cars waiting to find out their task, and then Daddy told them they were to go to McDonalds to collect their lunch. I covered my hand with my mouth and talking like the muffled drive through tannoy asked to take their order, before advising them to move to window one and then on to window two to collect their food.
The Children loved it and quite happily sat in their cars to eat their lunch (Daddy and I decided the sofa was more our style) before returning to their private McDonalds for a McFlurry. It was a great morning activity that had us all giggling, trying to out do each other (I still say my car was the best) and was very budget friendly!
The cars are currently living under our dining table, ready to be pulled out for another trip this week. We have a whole series of events planned but we could do with some more ideas of where we could "take" our cars, so please give us suggestions in the comments.