Build a city

Imagine creating a whole city – with buildings, roads and cars. This activity can have your child engaged for hours!

As they make things, they can test ideas and practise new drawing skills. When they are playing, they can make up stories, developing the language to talk about their creation.

 What do I need?

• Cardboard for making roads
• Boxes of various sizes – cereal boxes, matchboxes – for making cars and buildings
• Building blocks
• Paints, pencils, felt pens or crayons
• Glue
• Scissors

 How do I do it?

1. Cut the cardboard into strips to make the roads.
2. With your child, draw lines (solid or broken) along the centre of the cardboard strips.
3. They can decide if it’s a city street, a country road, a racetrack – anything they can imagine!
4. Make some simple vehicle shapes – cars, trucks, bicycles – with the smaller boxes.
5. Your child can paint or draw on the vehicles you’ve made together. They can paste their paintings or drawings onto the vehicles. The vehicles will look great!
6. Then you can start to play. Your child can put the road and the cars anywhere they choose.
7. With any extra boxes or blocks, you can make houses, shops, fences – anything your child wants to have near their road. Ask them to tell you a story about it!

No-one knows your child better than you.  So, choose and/or adapt ideas here to best suit you and your child. Remember it’s the talking and time spent together that matters most.