Kiddi Caru Junk Modelling Challenge

Expand your child’s creativity and ingenuity by joining the Kiddi Caru Day Nurseries Group Junk Modelling Challenge starting on 1st April.

Throughout the month we will post up a challenge to be created using recyclable items you have around the house – along with copious amounts of glue, paint, ribbon and anything else you can get your hands on so you and your family can create the next rocket to be sent to the moon, the fastest racing car to compete in the next Grand Prix or the latest fashion accessory to hit the catwalk in Milan.

Here are some ideas of items you can use – but the list is endless:

• Cardboard tubes
• Milk and juice cartons and plastic bottles
• Any types of boxes; tissues,
• Yoghurt pots and any other plastic containers
• Egg cartons – ensure they are clean

Not Just a Load of Junk!
Unlike most toys purchased on the high street with only one purpose, upcycling items has endless learning opportunities and will develop your child’s fine motor skills and helps them solve problems.

With everyone spending more time inside, see what junk you can find to include during your challenge and make sure to keep hold of different resources to have plenty of options to choose from each day.

At Kiddi Caru Day Nurseries Group, we use junk modelling activities as an opportunity to discuss the importance of recycling and looking after our planet with the older children. Our teams talk about what items can and can’t be recycled as well as where our rubbish is taken.

Why not get your child involved with how you recycle at home? Set up recycling stations and ask your little one which bin items need to go in, such as cardboard and plastic compared to food waste or glass.

Safety first – junk modelling is a great activity for children of all ages. However, please make sure that all resources are clean and removed of any loose or small parts that could be a choking hazard.

Here are our upcoming Junk Modelling Challenges! Make sure to follow Kiddi Caru Day Nurseries Group on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to join in and share your families creations and ideas!

Most images are taken from Pinterest – a great source of ideas and creativity.

Challenge 1 – Build a car, boat, plane, helicopter

Does your child have transport toys? Can you see different vehicles when you go for a walk? Ask them which their favourite is and provide them with a range of materials to take part in our junk modelling challenge and create their own mode of transport.

Tip – You can incorporate mathematics by counting the number of wheel, windows and lights needed for their vehicle. As well as, include colour recognition when they select how they want to decorate it.

Challenge 2 – Building a house

Whether it’s a sky scraper using juice cartons or a cottage using a rice box – provide your child with a range of resources to choose from and to decorate with. They may even like to take our junk modelling challenge even further and build a town or city to create the back drop for further small world play.

Tip – Once their buildings are complete you can incorporate mathematics by arranging the buildings in size or colour order.

Challenge 3 – House plant pot or desk tidy

This junk modelling challenge can create the perfect gift to brighten mum or dad’s desk while they work from home.
Have an adult cut a carton in half or provide an empty yoghurt pot and let your little one’s imagination run wild, as they transform it into an animal, character or a design that is a little more difficult to decipher.

Tip – You can plant cress seeds for your little one to see how and what plants need to grow.

Challenge 4 – Build a Robot

This is a great opportunity for some large-scale junk modelling! You can use boxes and tubes of different sizes to construct your robot and even use recyclable materials to decorate it too – foil, plastic wrappers and news papers to cover the robot. As well as, other materials such as bottle caps and ring pull for button and dials.

Tip – At Kiddi Caru, we construct robots and incorporate them into our Boogie Mites sessions with the preschool children.

Challenge 5 – Create your Family

We all should have plenty of cardboard tubes rolling about the house at the moment. So, why not gather as many as you can and ask your child to recreate your family? They can cut them into different heights and decorate with different resources, using tissue paper and newspaper to create their clothes and features.

Tip – During this difficult time, where you may not have been able to visit grandparents or other cherished family members in a few weeks, this activity can provide a great opportunity to open a discussion with your child on how they feel and to make plans on who to visit and what to do once they are able to go out and about.

Challenge 6 – Make a flower

Spring has sprung! So, get involved with this junk modelling challenge to wave goodbye to Winter and bring the happiness of Spring inside?
Take you little one on a walk outside and discuss the changes that spring has brought, such as the growth of flowers. Then using different materials, such as egg boxes, bottle caps and straws to create and decorate your own.

Tip – You can use the desk tidy you created in our previous challenge as a vase for your flowers.

Challenge 7 – Build a rocket or space ship

Feel like jetting off to another planet? Lets go! Bottles, cartons, egg boxes, cereal boxes…anything can create a spaceship in this junk modelling challenge! You can even glue bottles to boxes to be the engines.

Tip – If using boxes, make sure you keep the flaps so you little one can put small toys inside to jet off into Space!

Challenge 8 – Make an animal, bird or insect

Using a cardboard tube as the body, you can create your little ones favourite animals in this junk modelling challenge – and all their friends by adding little legs, big ears or long tails.

Tip – Incorporate mathematics by asking your little one to count how many legs you need.

Challenge 9 – Design a fashion accessory

Children learn by recreating or experiencing what they enjoy over and over – that’s why they want to read the same book or watch the same TV program everyday!

Take their interests one step further and create your own shoes in this junk modelling activity. Whether it’s to make feet like the Gruffalo or their own tiger paws or dragon claws. All you need are two old tissue or cereal boxes and imagination!

Tip – You can also use a pair of old socks, cut out the toes and attach to the hole in the box so they fix to your child feet better.

Challenge 10 – Make a Superhero Mask

Even when everything seems dark, they come swooping in with a moment of light and laughter – children are Superheroes! So, get involved in our junk modelling challenge to give them their own superhero masks. All you need is cardboard to cut into a mask shape and string, an old shoe lace of straws to attached them to.

Tip – You can even take their outfit further by create a cape our of newspaper and wrist cuffs out of tubes!