CARDBOARD BOX CARS for the DRIVE-IN MOVIES

I have always wanted to go to a drive-in movie. Unfortunately, I've never really had the chance... for some reason they seem to have lost their popularity! This activity makes me want to go to a drive-in movie even more!!! I guess I'll have to add it to my bucket list.



We just spent a week learning about cars. When I was trying to decide what to do to celebrate the end of our C is for Cars week I knew I wanted to watch the movie Cars. We love that movie, but hadn't seen it for a while. I was brainstorming with a friend and she had the genius idea to make cars out of cardboard boxes. I loved the idea! So, I volunteered to make cars for the both of us so our kids could enjoy the drive-in movie together.

I remember making a cardboard box car when I was in Kindergarten. My parents made a big, bright pink car that I could walk around in and pretend I was driving... Not really the drive-in movie style. But I have very fond memories of it and I was excited to see what I could come up with for Lanae's car.

Here's what I came up with!

First, I found a couple of sturdy boxes that the kids would be able to sit in. After the project was done, we realized wider boxes work better than taller boxes. I spray painted them black the day before our project and set them out to dry.

The day of our drive-in movie celebration, I pulled out the boxes, duct tape, scissors, razor blade knife and got to work.

I duct taped the bottom of the box to make it more sturdy. I wanted the kids to be able to lean up against the back, climb in and out and just enjoy the box car without worrying about it falling apart. Then I flipped it over and duct taped the top.

Pull out the razor blade knife and get ready to cut along the edges. Mark where you want to stop so that you have enough box to make the windshield. Stop at the same place on both sides of the box. 

The lines below show about where to cut to make a windshield like ours. Cut just 4-5 inches down both sides of the box. Make sure to stop in the same place on both sides so that it folds up at the same place. Before folding, cut out the inside of the windshield.

From your scraps of cardboard, cut out a triangle piece to support the windshield. Attach with duct tape! See the picture below.

Now just tape away... The duck tape will keep the box nice and sturdy so that the kids can play. So if there is any place that needs a little more support, tape it up!

Cut out a little flap for the steering wheel to attach to and tape it to the inside of the box right under the windshield. 

Now the cars are ready to go. You can also use the cardboard to accessorize in other ways, too. For example, you could make a little license plate to tape to the back of the car.

Let the kids inspect the car. If it passes inspection, then they are ready to decorate. 

Grab some paper plates for the wheels and the steering wheel. I cut them in half and taped them to the car. I also had some stickers that they could use to place all over the car. They had a lot of fun just playing with the stickers... which I really didn't mind. The point of the activity was to have fun, so try not to be too much of a perfectionist... if you are anything like me, this can be really hard sometimes.

After the cars are all decorated, take them to the "movies." Don't forget to pop the popcorn!

I hope you enjoy your drive-in movie experience as much as we did! These cars will last a while, so you can re-use them again and again! If you want to do some more fun activities with cars, we did a whole weeks worth of activities, including some fun graphing activities that even a 2 year old can do successfully! Check them out here.