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The Craft Train

Crafty ideas for kids and parents

You are here: Home / Crafts and Activities / DIY Toys / Paper cup and plate construction set

Paper cup and plate construction set

August 28, 2017 By Kate 3 Comments

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This blog post is sponsored by Recycled Mats

Heres a simple idea for an DIY paper cup and plate construction kit. It’s so versatile and kids will love using it to bulid towers, castles, cities and whatever else their imaginations can come up with.

Make a construction set using paper picnic ware like cups, plates and cupcake liners

Kids have the BEST ideas, don’t you think? I once put together a special craft box for my girls. We called it the no rules craft box. It was in the style of the popular inventors boxes I’d seen on Pinterest, and it was secretly aimed at giving them their own creative materials to go wild with so they might stop nicking all of mine. It didn’t really work as planned, but then sometimes when things don’t go to plan they turn out even better. 

In their craft box, which was a large plastic tub, I put a bunch of stuff I didn’t really need anymore. There were paper plates left over from Christmas and lots of paper cups which I’d purchased for craft projects in all different sizes. There were also some pretty floral paper bowls and cups I’d found on sale for only $1 each and but never used, plus paper bags, cake pop sticks (from a party a few years ago) and a few other bits and pieces.

I’d imagined they’d design some cute little paper cup animals or something (that’s probably what I would do), but instead they used them in play. Once they made an elaborate sweet shop for pretend play. Another time miss K made a paper plate house, and then created a (working!) garage to go with it.

Mostly though they used the box of things as a construction set and built tall towers and castles with them. Sometimes they would add cardboard tubes and egg cartons and design huge cities which encompassed the entire living room. Sometimes they’d add flashing Christmas ornaments and other things that light up, and then switch out the lights. 

They made nothing I imagined, but they made so much more.

How to make a paper cup and plate construction set

This paper cup and plate construction set is something that has evolved from our no rules craft box. It’s a 100% kid made creation and idea – I had nothing to do with this one.

Here is a video time lapse of Miss R building with her construction set.

Do you like Miss R’s new colourful chevron rug? It’s a Chindi Trellis chevron rug from recycled mats and is made from recycled clothing if you can believe it. Miss R chose it herself from the website and loves it because of the rainbow colours and because it has a gorgeous texture which feels wonderful on bare feet. It also makes a great base for building paper cup and plate towers!

You will need:

These are the things we used in our construction set, but don’t let that limit you. You can add to it with different things, and you don’t need to use everything we used either.

• paper cups in different sizes. We have the espresso size, regular size in different colours and textures, medium size and tall size. Having different colours of paper cups encourages patterning as well as building.
• paper plates
• paper bowls
• cupcake liners

How to:

Place the items in a pile on the floor and build away!

Make a construction set using paper picnic ware like cups, plates and cupcake liners

paper cup towers with paper plates and cupcake liners

Make a construction set using paper picnic ware like cups, plates and cupcake liners

Make a construction set using paper picnic ware like cups, plates and cupcake liners

Make a construction set using paper picnic ware like cups, plates and cupcake liners

Make a construction set using paper picnic ware like cups, plates and cupcake liners

The towers are just as fun to knock down as they are to build.

Make a construction set using paper picnic ware like cups, plates and cupcake liners

The girls love their no rules craft box, but they still nick all my crafting supplies!

More ideas using paper cups:

• make some classic paper cup telephones
• make a DIY coat hanger catapult with a paper cup ammunition holder
• use a paper cup and paper roll to create your own DIY ipod speaker
• here are 6 ways to make music using paper cups

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Make a construction set using paper picnic ware like cups, plates and cupcake liners

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Comments

  1. 1

    Kate says

    August 29, 2017 at 5:09 am

    Such a cool idea!
    And the castle looks so gorgeous on that beautiful rug!

    Reply
  2. 2

    Danya says

    August 29, 2017 at 7:35 am

    What a great idea! And I love the idea of having a defined space for it too, so you don’t end up with everything strewn all over the house. Plus, who wouldn’t want to build on a beautiful rug like that!!

    Reply
  3. 3

    Mom-Mom says

    January 10, 2022 at 3:33 pm

    Love it all,and want that rug!!!
    At the very least instructions on how my granddaughter and I can make our own!

    Reply

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  • Kate GronoKate GronoCrazy Craft Fanatic

    I’m basically a big kid who never grew up and still loves to muck around with paint, glitter, glue and toilet rolls. With the crafts shared here on this website I’m hoping to give other parents and carers inspiration to get crafty with their kids at home – make our projects, or use them as a source of inspiration to spark ideas of your own. When it comes to crafting no rules apply!

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