Card City

Click on the book cover to learn more about the Card City in the Story of the Christmas Village! 

It is raining outside and you've been cooped up with the kids all weekend. Although they have a roomful of toys, they insist there is nothing to play with. You are tempted to allow them to overdose in cartoons, but your better judgment stops you. What you need is an activity that will stimulate their creative energy, occupy a large block of time, and keep them relatively quiet while confined indoors.

What you need is a good craft project. Unfortunately you are fresh out of craft supplies and the idea of running to the store in this weather is out of the question. What is a parent to do? Perhaps you do have the supplies for them to make an entire city.

Materials Needed:
3x5 cards
Scissors
Crayons, colored pencils or felt tip pens
Scotch tape

Directions:
If you can rummage up a stack of 3x5 cards, then you are on your way to hours of fun. Depending on the age of the child, he or she can work on this project independently, or with you.
Those thin cardboard-like cards are easy to cut, yet are firm enough to be pieced together to fashion houses and other buildings. Holding two cards together and cutting one half into a point, makes a great start for the ends of a house with a slanting roofline. Doors can be cut out, which can fold open and shut.

One Thanksgiving I turned over a stack of 3x5 cards to my children, then ages 7 and 10, and showed them how to make a three dimensional house. Before I knew it, they were creating bridges, windmill, churches, an entire village. They used crayons to draw on Christmas lights, and before I knew it, we had an entire Christmas village (featured in the book at top of this page.)