I don’t know about you but my kids love cartoon characters. These weird little creatures draw them in and let them explore an imaginary world where all things are possible. Now I’m not a big fan of using a TV as a baby sitter for my kids when they’re bored. Don’t get me wrong I’m not anti-TV, I just don’t think it’s the best thing to fill up those “MooooooooMMM, I’m bored” moments. Kids should be outside, exploring and living in their own imaginative worlds, not those created by others. To encourage them we got our kids to help make a little cartoon village out of bits of wood and a wedgie sandwich holder.

Empty sandwich wedge packaging and pallet bits

Any scrap bits and pieces you have lying around will work. We started off by tracing the outline of the pallet bits.

Trace the outline of the bits of pallets

We cut the wedgie sandwich container and lightly sanded the top bitty.

Cut the plastic sandwich container and sand lightly

Then we cleaned the pallets off and gave them a light spray paint.

Lightly spray paint the pallets

We also sprayed the wedgie holder.

Spray the sandwich container

While we were waiting for everything to dry, I started doodling and playing around with some ideas. It’s the perfect opportunity to get the kids involved. Let them draw some imaginary doors, windows or whatever they  would love to see in the village.

Oodles of doodles

Using the doodles we did a mock up of what each little house in the village will look like.

The cartoon village mock up

Once we were happy with the mock up, we drew the real thing onto the outlines we traced earlier and then sprayed the drawings with artist’s fixative to stop the ink from running.

Transfer the image and seal with artist fixative

We cut the images out and used transfer glaze and applied 6 coats, according to instructions, over the drawings.

Cut out and apply transfer glaze

When the glaze had dried we dunked those drawing in water and carefully removed the paper from the back.

Soak the picture and rub off the paper

Because the cartoon village will be outside, we used outdoor Mod Podge to glue and seal the image onto the bits of wood.

Use Outdoor Mod Podge to stick

The transfer glaze lets the grain of the wood show through and adds a whole bunch of character when the image has finally dried. The outdoor Mod Podge is the perfect sealer to protect the village from the bumps and knocks it will get when the kids start playing.

Close up of the bottom of the village

We used the sandwich wedgie to make a roof for one of the houses.

The village roof tops

And we added an antenna, made out of some wire that we bent, to the tallest block of wood. Guess there’s some kids living in that apartment that need a TV :8 !!

Our little cartoon village

And the kids can go play.

Creative play in a cartoon village

Oh nooooo, we’re being attacked by dinosaurs. Heeelllp!!!!! We had such a laugh while playing. Zia, our Alsatian x Husky, completely freaked out when she saw the T-Rex. She didn’t know whether to run a mile or do her guard dog duty and protect the kids from the village monster. Lol!!!

How do you keep your kids busy during the holiday?