Cardboard Petting Zoo

Build cardboard animals together, starting from a simple flat shape and working up to something fully 3D. Everything you need is already in the recycling bin.

You do not need to be good at making things; curiosity and a pair of scissors are enough.

[ Hero illustration ]

Let's copy from animals

Every animal is shaped to suit the life it lives: a bird has wings, an insect has six legs, a snake has a long flexible body. When you know what makes an animal look like itself, you can build it in cardboard, starting flat and working up to something 3D.

Make it together

iOi Challenge

Build a cardboard animal good enough that someone can name it without being told what it is.

You will need

Cardboard boxes and tubes (cereal boxes, kitchen rolls, a mix of sizes)
Coloured postal packaging
Egg cartons
Fruit packaging
Plastic bottles
Yoghurt pots
Chopsticks or bamboo skewers
Tape and scissors
Thread
A pencil
Crayons or felt tips (optional)

Swap anything you don't have for something else.

Try these

There are a few ways to build a cardboard animal, from the simplest to the most structural.

[ Draw and cut ]

Draw and cut. Draw your animal on cardboard and cut it out. A fish silhouette is instantly a fish.

[ Box as animal ]

Let the box be the animal. Take a single box and add to it: two card triangles for ears makes a cat, a triangle beak and two wing shapes makes a bird. The body is boxy, and that is part of the charm.

[ Combine pieces ]

Combine pieces. Suggest the animal's shape by connecting different parts. A long box for a body, a kitchen roll tube for a neck, two chopsticks for legs: you have a heron.

[ Build in 3D ]

Build in 3D. Cut a flat body shape, then add a rolled strip for a head, bent card legs and wings cut from a plastic bottle. Two antennae and you have a fly.

[ Flute direction ]

Follow the flute. Corrugated card bends easily one way and resists the other. Play with both directions before you commit to a fold: one gives crisp edges, the other gives strength.

[ Interlocking slots ]

Slot pieces together. Cut a slot halfway into two pieces of card and push them together at right angles: no tape needed. Good for legs that have to hold weight.

Get started

Find a picture and look closely: count the legs, notice whether the body is round or long, and spot the one feature that makes it that animal. Make a quick sketch before you start cutting, just enough to agree on what you're building.

If you do not have any pictures to hand, pick an animal everyone already knows well.

Have a go

Pick your favourite animal.
List what it needs. A bird needs a beak and wings; an insect needs six legs. Three or four key features is enough. That is your build list.
Start with the body. Find a box or piece of cardboard that roughly matches the main shape. Everything else attaches to it.
Add what makes it. Work through your build list one feature at a time. A pair of eyes in the right place, a fin, a couple of feathers: the details make the animal, even when the body is just a plain box.
Check it reads. From a little distance, can you tell what it is? Add whatever is still missing. When someone can name it without being told, it's done.

Tinker

Once you've got your first animal standing, there's more to explore.

Interlock the front view and side view of the same animal: cut the body shape from both angles and slot them together for a more sculptural form.
Weave narrow strips of cardboard over and under each other to make curves and rounded shapes.
String several small animals together as a mobile.
Build more animals and arrange them into a full petting zoo.

Share what you make

We love seeing what families make at home. Tag us on Instagram and Facebook (@instituteofimagination) or email hello@ioi.london.

A cardboard box with two pointy ears and a tail is a cat. That is a petting zoo.

Why not share this activity with others?

Institute of Imagination