We made... Cereal Box Cameras!

I often browse through Pinterest for baby and toddler friendly craft ideas but, like I've said before, I have some issues with the so-called 'easy' projects and toddler friendly craft ideas you can find there.

And so my love-hate relationship with the little red pin button continues and I have lost count of the projects started that end up in the bin. I'm still learning to come to terms with the fact that failing to produce Pinterest-worthy pins doesn't mean I'm failing at motherhood, being a housewife, or just life in general.

But then there are the days, where I find something and think "I can do that!" then, I actually do it! Yep. A spur of the moment decision for an activity after a morning out at bible study which actually turns out to be pretty good. If I do say so myself.


We started with a few simple items scavenged from around the home:
- mini-cereal boxes
- small plastic lids
- PVA glue
- glitter
- small plastic buttons
- double-sided sticky tape
- ribbon
- washi tape
- an old catalogue
- coloured paper
- sparkly pipe cleaner

First, wrap your boxes in a coloured paper. We used plain paper but you could also use something with a pattern or even some wrapping paper if you prefer.

Then, use double-sided tape to stick the lid to the box to make your lens. Use more sticky tape to stick a button to the inside of the lid. If you want (and don't have a fear of glitter) then use the PVA glue and some glitter to add some sparkle to the lens.

Once the glue and glitter has dried, it might be worth adding another coat of just glue - it will dry clear and stop most of the glitter ending up around your house like some sort of sparkly fairy plague.

You can then use the double-sided tape to add a further button to the top as a shutter and some ribbon in place of a strap. A folded silver sparkly pipe cleaner makes a good flash, but you could also use some tin foil or more glitter, depending on what you have.

At the back, I cut a small picture out from a catalogue and Lily stuck it to the back to make a viewing screen. I popped some pink washi tape round the outside to frame it.

From there, it's all down to how you choose to decorate it. You can add more buttons of different sizes, different patterns of tape, maybe a viewfinder... It's up to you! Lily wasn't fussed about adding too much more to her camera, once she'd made it she just wanted to get outside and get snapping.

I also made one for Ollie - after starting out thinking he could do some himself and realising quickly that although it was a perfect activity for Lily at 3 years old, Ollie wasn't going to manage the tricky bits. Unfortunately, he hasn't stopped swinging it around long enough for me to take a decent photo, so I may have to come back to that later!