Mini Castle Play-set With Drawbridge

This is a miniature castle for children to play in made out of recycled cardboard boxes. Kids will have a blast playing as medieval knights, kings, queens, princesses, etc. in this homemade mini-castle. It's a great use for boxes you have sitting around and when it gets old it can go straight to the recycle bin.

1. Large cardboard boxes, the bigger the better.
2. Packing tape or duct tape.
3. String or yard for the draw bridge.
4. Scissors and a box cutter.
5. Markers

Start by breaking down your boxes so that they lay flat by removing any of the tape holding them in box form. Next, take one box and trace out the gate. Ideally the gate will be large enough so that a child can easily walk through it, somewhere around 2 feet wide by 4 feet tall.

Next, cut out the gate leaving it as one solid peace and set it aside.

In my case the boxes were not quite long enough so I have to tape two pieces together to get it tall enough. If you need to do this it is best to use a lot of tape and extra cardboard pieces to reinforce it.

Cut out two pieces of cardboard which will act as the walls coming off of the gate. Tape one wall to each side of the gate.

Stand the gate and walls up. Bend the walls in at an angle to allow the gate and walls to stand on their own. If it does not stand up by itself or if it seems unstable you can add an additional piece of bent cardboard and tape it to the gate as shown.

Take some of your scrap pieces of cardboard to make the upper part of the castle wall called a battlement. It's recommended to trace the cuts ahead of time to ensure even spacing. Tape the battlements to the top of the wall and top of the gate.

To add the gate first you will connect the gate to the bottom of the gate hole using string and tape. Tape some string to the very bottom of your gate and tape it to the bottom of each side of the bottom of the gate hole. This should allow the gate to hinge at the bottom and open and close like a drawbridge.

To allow the drawbridge to be opened and closed with a string first you will cut a 2 inch slit on both sides of the gate, about 4-6 inches from the top. Next poke holes in the castle near the top of the gate hole on each side. The string will go through these holes and attach to the gate.

Cut a long piece of string or yarn to use for the drawbridge. The length will depend on the size of your castle, but in general will need to be about 10 feet long. *Note - a single string is used which feeds from one side through to the other.

Tie a large knot on one end and insert this into the slit on the gate. Feed the string through one hole and then back through the other hole. Finally connect the string to the other side of the gate by creating a second knot and inserting it into the slit. You may have to cut the string shorter if it is too long. There should be about 3-4 inches of slack in the string.

You should now be able to pull the string down while in the castle which will raise and lower the drawbridge.

To add a turret you can take a large piece of cardboard and simply bend in two sides to allow it to stand and also allow the turret to be entered. Add more battlements using the same method as in step 5. Set your turret either behind the castle wall or on either side of the castle wall. If you have space you can add an additional turret to the other side.

Finally add decorations to your castle. You can add as much as you like but some ideas as shown are drawing in bricks as well as making a simply cannon. The cannon was made by rolling a piece of cardboard into a cylinder and taping it to the battlement.

After you are satisfied with the decorations it's ready for play!