Make Something Monday: Paper Bag Town

I recently wrote a post about our Summer Schedule.  For this Make Something Monday, the kids didn't have anything they particularly wanted to make, so I suggested we make a version of this Paper Bag Town from Kids Activities Blog.  The original post was for younger kids, but I thought my kids (9 and 11) might get a kick out of it because they both still enjoy playing with their little figures so much. One thing I will say for the two of them, imagination is not something either of them lack. (Actually, I was tempted to make one of these myself when I saw this idea.  There's always been something so appealing to me about making up my own little world. I still do it in my head sometimes.  LOL)  I was right.  It was a hit.  Not only that - because they are older, I was barely involved at all.  They came up with all sorts of storefront ideas for their town.  Older kids actually have a better idea of what is actually supposed to be in a town than younger kids.  They also have much longer attention spans, so an activity like this can take hours.

The idea is simple.  Paint some paper bags two different colors for a roof and the building.  They set up in our playroom and had several bags turned out in no time.  We had a whole bunch of paper bags and a bunch of craft paint left over from other projects that we were able to use.  This was also a reason I suggested it!

Next, draw on the bags to make the windows, doors, and signs. Or you can paint them on as my daughter did with some of them.

 

Something we added to make sure they stood up was stuff each one with a plastic bag before we stapled them closed at the top.

Pretty soon we had a candy store, costume store, hospital, and several houses.

Another thing we added was the base for the town.  I had a $1 white plastic tablecloth laying around.  We pulled in one of our folding tables from the garage and covered it with the tablecloth.  Then my daughter drew roads, trees, and a pond on it.  Then they set up all the bags in the town.

 Kat Kong invades the city!

 

 

 Future city planner

 

 Then it was time to bring down all the Littlest Pets and Nintendo guys to set up house.

 

In our house, Nintendo figures have had to coexist with Littlest Pet Shop Pets and Polly Pocket.  It makes for an interesting world.

 

I wondered if my kids would be too old for this. They're not and I'm glad.  They spent several hours putting this all together while I was upstairs making dinner and writing.  I only went downstairs to snap a few pictures as they progressed. We've left it up all week, and they've been down to play with it on and off.  This is exactly the kind of thing they need to be doing.  As I type this post, my daughter came up and asked me where the Sharpies are.  They're adding a hotel!  Childhood is so short.  No need to hurry it along.

 

 

 

 

Kim