Thursday, April 9, 2009

Cardboard TV


We are taking a break from the regular Foam Program to 
bring you another Cardboard Is Supreme advert. Emily 
thought it would be a good idea to make a cardboard TV 
this week. Her original idea was fascinating - it included 
a built-in VCR and DVD player with slots for inserting 
cardboard DVDs and videocassettes. It intrigued me, 
but we made the simple TV first (we may never get 
round to doing the slots for cartridges)


with a remote control. The remote control was very important. 
Emily put on foam sticker buttons, drew more buttons and 
correctly positioned the infra-red thingy in the front.

The TV is essentially a box with a big window cut out 
in front, and a little walled-space about 1/2" deep
behind it, to slot TV programs in.

I like this project for many reasons, one of which is its 
simplicity. But my favorite part is how it is secretly a way 
to display the kids' art and have them talk about it 
to unsuspecting captive guests. 

The girls got white paper and markers and drew their own 
TV show. Jenna had some help with outlines to color in. 

Then these were mounted on cardboard slabs to make 
them easy to slot in and take out. We put pictures on 
both sides of the cardboard.

Emily's story was all about a princess fairy with blue wings

but later she decided she wanted to be the star of 
her own TV show so here's a self-portrait.

I love how Jenna proudly put in her Maisy TV show 
and told a story, then sang the Maisy theme song 
(with the little yelp at the end of phrases) while 
swinging her leg in time.  
Oh I love being a mom of small children!


5 comments:

  1. Wow! Decided we're brats tonight (which Man will grill when he gets home), so since I'm not cooking I figured I had time to check my blog reader. And wow!

    My kids are currently watching the black electronic TV. How I'd love it if they were "watching" a brown cardboard one instead. Or rather, creating shows for it. Fabulous idea!!! H will love it too!!! And yay, finally a place to put all their artwork! Must go find box now...

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  2. Wonderful! I actually remember doing something like this as a child...

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  3. So much fun!!! And it's so hard to get them to talk about their art some times. Great idea!

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  4. That's very very cute! Our real TV went into hiding a couple of months ago, so as soon as I'm sure that this won't remind them of their lost love then I'll give it a go :)

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