How to make a fish tank from a carboard box

This is one of my favourite 'make-it-yourself' craft toys as it provides hours of play, all for the price of a few buttons!





The bits and bobs you’ll need

Empty cardboard box

Scissors

String, wool or fishing line

Buttons

Thin card

Colouring pencils or glue and glitter



Step 1

For the box simply cut away the front of the cardboard box.  If you’d like to be able to look through the fish tank then remove the back and part of the sides.  Otherwise you can decorate the insides of back and sides of the box as a wonderful underwater scene.



Step 2

One tip is to cut thin slits the length of the roof of the box – these will allow your little one to enjoy sliding the fish up and down to replicate motion



Step 3

For the fish first draw then cut out simply fish shapes using the thin card – feel free to add other shapes you’d like – crabs, seahorses etc.  After they’re cut out colour and decorate them however you wish – glitter, shells and even rice looks great.  If you don’t fancy colouring them in then simply use any coloured card you have



Step 4

Once you’ve coloured you’re fish simply make a small hole at the top of the shape and attach the string or wool.  If you have any transparent fishing line that’s even better.  Remember to use different lengths of string for different fish so they’re not all the same height



Step five

Push the string through a slit and attach to a button, so that you can slide the fish up and down.

Step six

If you want you can attach the box to a wall (as shown) or simply place on a surface.



Hopefully you’ll have loads of fun making the fish tank and even more playing with it.

Big Thanks!

A huge thank you to Joel Henriques from www.madebyjoel.com for his fantastic ideas and inspiration.