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How to make a cardboard castle

Get ready for the most fun you can possibly have with a cardboard box! Learn how to turn your everyday recycling into an easy DIY castle

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Zoe Williams

Published: August 31, 2022 at 8:51 am

Welcome to your new favourite way of getting creative with kids this summer holiday. You don't need any expensive craft supplies to give it a go and children love it.

How to make a castle out of cardboard is easy and only takes about an hour. Rummage in your cupboards and you're likely to have most of the supplies you need to try this at home – scissors, string and some tape. Add a couple of holes to your castle door and you can even add a moving drawbridge.

You can make a castle out of cardboard boxes of all sizes. My daughter is overjoyed if we ever get a giant box delivered as it means we can go to town with dens and life-sized junk modelling that she can play in. We've tried this castle DIY with a huge box before too – to do this you can easily adapt the steps below to suit the size of the box.

A top tip for bigger-box crafting is to give children a black marker pen and let them go to town decorating the inside and outside of your cardboard creations. I've always find this entertains my children as much as the actual building or playing with the finished project does.

You can make a castle using scissors but I recommend investing in a craft knife or stanley knife as these are the easiest tools for cutting cardboard. For this project I topped up my stash with a pack of 3 stanley knives (£2.30, Wilko) as I find them useful for all sorts of craft and home projects. If your kids are younger, using a knife may mean they have to let you do the cutting bits to stay safe but they can still join in and do the sticking and rope threading.

For this castle DIY, I wanted to make a slightly smaller castle that my children could play with Lego mini figures in, so I took a larger box and cut 5 smaller pieces to make the castle floor and walls. But you can also make this with a plain cardboard box if you'd rather keep things simple.

I've included instructions for both methods below.

If you're looking for more easy summer holiday craft ideas, you might also like our round-up of the best craft ideas for kids. You might also like our easy play dough recipe or how to make a kaleidoscope projects.

How to make a cardboard castle video

Check out our video guide to this project, or see below for our step-by-step with photos if you prefer written instructions.

You will need:

Cardboard box (or 5 thick pieces of cardboard)
Cardboard tubes (2 tubes)
Craft knife
Scissors
Masking tape
PVA glue
Paper straws (2 straws)
Scrap card (Small piece)

How to make the main castle – sheets of cardboard method

Step 1

To make the four walls of your castle, cut five pieces from your sheets of cardboard:

Two x side wall pieces (25cm high x 28cm wide)
Two x main wall pieces (25cm high x 32cm wide)
One x base piece (32 x 28cm)

Step 2

Take the four wall pieces, and cut away a series of small squares from along the top edge of each piece – to make battlements.

Hands cutting squares from the top of a sheet of cardboard to make castle battlements

Step 3

Take the front piece of your castle and cut out a door shape from the front. Keep the door piece to one side – you’ll need it in the next step.

Cut a door shape from the bottom edge of the castle wall

Step 4

Cut two windows, either side of the door. It’s easiest to do this with a craft knife but you can do it with a sharp pair of scissors too – it’s just a bit more fiddly if you want to cut small windows.

Cut two windows from the front of the castle front wall

Step 5

Lying them flat, next to each other, use masking tape to stick the bottom edges of the four walls to the four edges of your base piece of cardboard. Place each wall along a side of the castle base and attach with masking tape
Now raise the walls upwards so they are at a 90 degree angle from the base piece. They should meet in the 4 corners. Stick more lengths of masking tape along the inside of each corner join. You have a castle shape!If you How to make a castle out of cardboard step 5b attach walls

If you need to reinforce the corners, you can add a small piece of masking tape to the outer side of the corners too. This will be covered up in later steps. How to make a castle out of cardboard step 6 assemble

Step 6

Use a pencil to poke 2 holes either side of the door, near the top of the door. Poke 2 more holes in the front of the door.

Poke two holes either side of the top of the door, and on the door, using a pencil

Step 7

Take a piece of rope and tie several knots in one end. Thread this through one of the door holes, so the knot is on the front of the door, with the rope poking through to behind the door. Repeat with another piece of string and the other hole in the door.

Step 8

Take the two pieces of rope and thread them into the holes in the front of the castle (from front to back) either side of the door.

Leave enough rope that the door can hang flat in front of the castle, then tie three knots in the loose end of the rope, inside the castle to secure it behind the hole. Trim away any loose ends inside the castle.

Tie knots in the string to attach your drawbridge

Step 9

Lie the door so it is front-facing downwards, in front of the castle, with its bottom edge lining up with the bottom of the door aperture you cut in the the front of the castle. Use masking tape to tape along this join and make a hinge.

Lay the door flat, lining the base up with the door aperture, and stick it to the base of the castle with masking tape to make a hinge