Introduction: Giant Cardboard LEGO Blocks
For our daughter's 5th birthday, we held a LEGO-themed party. A highlight of the party was the huge pile of 75 giant LEGOs. The giant LEGOs were made by painting cardboard moving boxes in the classic primary LEGO colors. They kept a dozen five-year-olds (and plenty of excited parents) occupied for a couple of hours. Building with the blocks was great, but, of course, knocking them down was even more fun.
Since DUPLO is twice the size of regular LEGO, QUATRO four times, and these blocks are about ten times that size, we've decided to call them DECCO. Just moved, and looking to reuse your boxes? Make DECCO!
Step 1: Supplies
Our supplies included:
- 75 12'' x 12'' x 16'' boxes
- paint matched to LEGO colors blue, green, red, and yellow
- rollers and trays
- masking and protective materials
- tape
Step 2: Paint Boxes
We painted the boxes with a latex-base interior flat combination paint and primer that are intended to cover a wall in a single coat. Blue, red, and green required an extra spot-coat over the logos on the boxes; yellow required two coats over the entire box, plus an extra (third!) spot-coat over the box logs. (For this reason, we painted 15 yellow boxes and 20 of each other color.)
We put the paint on a bit thick, which slightly warped the boxes as they dried, but the warping cleared up when we assembled the boxes. Make sure you have a ton of space for the boxes to dry, or build a rack to keep them from falling over and sticking to each other or picking up floor grit.
Step 3: Assemble Boxes
Once dry, we assembled the boxes and taped them shut with clear packing tape. Get one of those nice packing tape roller/cutters to make this go fast. If you're super-fancy, this could be done with color-matched duct tape.
Step 4: Build Tunnels
Build Lego tunnels and pretend you're in a Lego world! Amaze your children! Sneak up on them from behind a wall of boxes and growl loudly!
Step 5: Build Towers!
Build towers, both stable and unstable.
Step 6: ... and Knock Them Down
Have everyone yell SMASH!!!
Step 7: But Watch Out for Accidents
Step 8: Build a Wall for a Photo Backdrop
Take pictures of guests in costume quickly because once the children start knocking stuff down, they cannot contain themselves and will immediately try to knock everything down.
Fortunately for clean-up and recycling, one of the party guests was planning a LEGO-themed Halloween display, so all of the blocks will make another appearance soon.
If you make your own DECCO, have a blast, and be sure to post pictures here!
16 Comments
2 years ago
ok not going to lie the kids are creepy and cute at the same time
7 years ago
So cool!!
8 years ago on Introduction
I always wanted one of these when I was a kid, this is totally easy and awesome :)
Wondering how the design could be remixed so that we could also make ceilings with it! :)
8 years ago on Introduction
Be safe kids these legos are dangerous ooooooooooooooooooo
9 years ago on Introduction
Very Cool! I like how the boxes could still be used for storage.
For my son's 13th, we had a Lego themed party at a pizza place. We made plinths out of freshly washed Legos and put a brand-new minifig on each. It looked great.
(I put the Legos in a mesh lingerie bag, laid it flat in the top rack and washed them in the dishwasher.. I also do this when we get them second-hand).
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
I edited my post into the non-nonsensical. We put the Lego plinths into the corners of a commercially decorated cake from the supermarket. I like making my own, but knew I'd make myself into a nervous wreck if I had one more thing to do.
9 years ago on Introduction
Very Cool! I like how the boxes could still be used for storage.
For my son's 13th, we had a Lego themed party at a pizza place. We made plinths out of freshly washed Legos and put a brand-new minifig on each. It looked great.
(I put the Legos in a mesh lingerie bag, laid it flat in the top rack and washed them in the dishwasher.. I also do this when we get them second-hand).
9 years ago on Introduction
Those are giant blocks, but the are not Lego bricks. They do not have the interconnecting studs.
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
True. LEGO-colored cardboard boxes would be a more technically correct name.
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
I suppose you could use egg carton cups or paper ice cream cups, paint them, and glue or sticky tape them to line up and sit stacked if you would really like to have the interconnecting studs.
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
But you would have to cut corresponding holes in the bottoms of all the cartons, and all of them would have to be in the same place to be interchangeable. I think that would be entirely too much work for a not really accurate imitation. As they are, they are easy to make and a lot of fun for the kids. I was just pointing out they are not Lego.
9 years ago on Introduction
Great work. As a person with experience I advice a further use for these boxes. Counting (how many of each colour, do we have more or fewer yellow and how many?), colour recognition, measuring (size of boxes,total size of each row, cube, etc.). Writing, tallying, charts, etc. You get the point. Love it.
9 years ago on Introduction
She's 5 already? Wow, time flies!
It looks like the adults had just as much fun with these as the children- and rightly so :) Truly there is nothing in the world quite as fun as a cardboard box.
9 years ago on Introduction
Haha awesome! ;)
9 years ago
Happy belated birthday to your little girl. Looked like it was a huge success.
9 years ago on Introduction
Too Much fun