A Little Cartoon Village for the Kids
I don’t know about you but my kids love cartoon characters. These weird little creatures draw them in and let them explore where all things are possible. Now I’m not a big fan of using a TV as a babysitter 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 imaginative worlds, not those created by others. To encourage them we got our kids to help make a little cartoon village out of pallet scraps and recycled stuff.
You can use whatever you have lying around to make the village. A empty milk carton or cardboard boxes are all good starting points. I bet your kids will come up with a whole bunch of ideas. And if you don’t have kids or they’re all grown up you make a fairy version to use in pot plants and kokedamas. I even made a few more for our holiday home.
So, if you’re looking for a easy recycled craft idea to make playtime fun, then we’ve got you covered. But, before we get there, please do me a favor and follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram. And don’t forget to subscribe so you’ll never miss a post!
What we used
We love recycling and used the following to make this cartoon village:
- Pallet off cuts
- A wedgie sandwich holder
- Pen and paper
- Paint
- Artist Fixative (optional)
- Outdoor Mod Podge
- Matt Transfer Meduim
- Bowl of water
How to make a cartoon village
This is a quick project Any scrap bits and pieces you have lying around will work, as long as you have a stable base. I used pallet off cuts with flat bottoms. You don’t want the village falling over. Place the pallet off cuts on a piece of paper and trace around the edges . We’ll use the outlines to plan the cartoon village.
Give the pallets a good scrub with a hard bristle brush and paint them in a color of your choice. You can use craft paint or spray paint for this step.
Making a sandwich wedge roof
Cut the sandwich wedge container and lightly sand the top.
Paint the plastic wedge in a color of your choice.
Drawing the village
While you wait for everything to dry, grab some paper and let the kids doodle some cartoon doors, windows, cats, dogs, or whatever the kids feel should be added to their village.
Using the pallet outlines as a guide play around and do a “mock up” what each little house in the village will look like.
When you’re happy with the mock ups, redraw the real thing onto the pallet outlines. I was a little worried that the ball point pen I used would smudge so used artist’s fixative to stop the ink from running.
Transferring the images to the pallets
Cut the images out and apply a few coats of matt transfer medium over the top of the drawings.
Once the transfer medium dries, dunk the drawing in a bowl of water. Use your finger to rub the paper off. The ink drawing should stay behind and the more paper you rub off, the more of the wood grain will show through adding a whole bunch of character.
Since the kids will be playing outside with the cartoon village, I used outdoor Mod Podge to glue and seal the pictures onto the pallet scraps.
Glue the recycled sandwich wedge onto one of the pallets for a roof.
And added an wire antenna to the tallest block of wood. Guess there’s some kids living in that apartment that need a TV!!
And that’s it. A easy way to recycle what you have at home to make something fun.
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.
If you like the idea of making a cartoon village for the kids, don’t forget to pin it for later.
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Oh, and if you’re looking for some of the things we used, we’ve got you covered. Disclosure: Clicking on the links below, means we may receive a commission from Amazon. But don’t worry it won’t come out of your pocket, and it helps us make more amazing crafts to share with you.
And if you prefer to buy rather than DIY, perhaps these beauties will appeal.
And as always, wishing you a wonderful, crafty week filled with laughter and love. Thank you for popping in for a visit and let me know in the comments what you do with the kids to keep them busy in the holidays.
The doodles look so professional Michelle. I thought you had downloaded them somewhere. You are so creative. Love what you did here and your kids will have this forever to remember their mama’s gift to them.
Hey Mary, thank you. The kids drawings were the inspiration for the doodles, so they deserve all the credit 😉
I want to make this with my girls, I love love love the idea! And how talented you are Michelle, your doodles are so pretty and I love that it is so simple also, no colours or much fuss, to let the imagination really loose!!
Thank you Katrin, I’m sure your girls are going have an absolute ball making a village. P.S. Love what you and the girls did with the leaf art.
Michelle, these are awesome!!! I was in the U.P. when I saw them on IG and maybe it was all the metal roofs, but I actually thought you had a metal roof! lol Great job…LOVE!!!
Thanks Michelle 🙂 Those sandwich holders are perfect as a roof. We’ve used them before in a fairy garden too and they work like a charm.
That’s such a cool idea Michelle and I bet the boys aren’t to happy with Barbie at the moment. Hope the dinosaurs are okay?
Lol, you’re right the boys are a bit upset, but the dinosaur is currently stalking Zia, so no worries.
Michelle, this looks so fun!! How creative you are to make a cartoon village! You’re a very talented artist. I bet your kids love playing with the cartoon village.
Thanks Keri 🙂 the art work was all inspired by drawings that the kids did, so they’re the talented ones. We had some friends over this weekend and I’m glad to report that a giant Barbie has now taken over the village, lol!
Looks fun!!
Thank you Zinga, we had fun making it and lots of fun playing afterwards 🙂