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Monday, May 15, 2017

Out of the Box: 25 Cardboard Engineering Projects for Makers by Jemma Westing

Out of the Box: 25 Cardboard Engineering Projects for Makers
by Jemma Westing
DK. 2017
ISBN: 9781465458964
All ages
I borrowed a copy of this book from my local public library to write the review

Note: Louise is writing all the reviews during 2017 while Cathy is on sabbatical. She returns February, 2018.

Do you like to make crafts at home or with kids at the library? If so, don't miss out on Out of the Box. One of the coolest craft books I've seen in awhile.


I saw this book while at ALA Midwinter in Atlanta. The DK booth had these cute little owls on display. I spent quite a bit of time thumbing through the ARC of the book, getting excited at all the ideas. I couldn’t wait until it was available to purchase for my library.

The book includes twenty actives: costumes, castles, gifts, games, puppets, and pirate ships. The list of supplies needed are standard stuff, most likely you have them around the house or library. Like tape, glue, scissors, thread, pencil, acrylic paints, brushes, and pencils. Each activity has easy to follow, step by step color photos that are captioned with the directions. There is also an explanation of the difficulty level (easy, medium, hard). 

To look inside the book, go here

Templates for tracing are in the back of the book.

The ideas here are really cool and could be incorporated into any maker activity, especially during the summer. 

Here are a few of the activities I liked::

A bean bag toss made from cardboard boxes called, “Feed the Monsters”;
Cardville City is a city made from small boxes and cardboard tubes. 


This book will definitely inspire creative play in children of all ages. Be sure to have copies on hand during the summer. 

Watch this to see how to make a robot costume.

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