Large Cardboard Birds

I call this project 'Bird Box", lol. It's supposed to be giant cardboard birds, but, to be honest, they are more like medium size, haha. I collected Amazon boxes for this lesson but didn't get many big boxes unfortunately. Hence the medium size. 

I used Amazon boxes because I read on an art teacher's Instagram stories that Amazon cardboard is much easier to cut because it's THINNER. Indeed, it is even labelled below as being made with 'LESS MATERIAL". 

Well, after completing this project with a mixed class of Grade 4-6 students (mostly Grade 4), it was NOT easier to cut!  The kids still struggled, one got a blister and it was a bit of a headache watching their little hands try to cut through the cardboard. In the end, they all managed but it was definitely a struggle for a few. 

I found the project inspiration HERE.  Students started off with a basic sketch of their bird, breaking it down to simple shapes. They sketched out their plan on an opened amazon box. 

Then the fun part, lol. Cutting all the pieces out. I had to help some kids.

We stored them in between classes in large manila envelopes. 

Then put it all together to make sure it all looks good. 

They gave all the pieces a base coat of tempera paint. 

Once dry, they added patterns on top. 

Once everything was dry, I plugged in hot glue guns all around the classroom and let them 

assemble all the pieces together. 

They turned out really cute!

Any tips for using cardboard with younger kids?? Leave them in the comment section!