I Have been collecting some boxes for a future project and was not sure what that project would be so as you can already imagine i figured this would be a great opportunity to put them to use. I decided they would be great as buildings and that's how i come up with the idea of a paper city. Plus its a great and simple project to do with kids.

I decided to divided the project into three sections, Skyline, Buildings and park. I will be listing the materials i used in each section because they were quite a number.

Step 1: Step One : Skyline

I divided the project into three components, skyline, buildings and park. The first section was the skyline.

The materials used for the skyline where

Corex board or cardboard
Manila paper (green, white and yellow) P.s i didn't have blue but green worked out ok
scissors
Pencil, eraser and marker pen
glue
double sided tape
pen blade
ruler

The measurements for section one of the board (Skyline) were 26 inches Long by 24 inches wide. I drew up a template for what i wanted my skyline to look like on a piece of paper with the same measurements and used it as my guide. Your template doesn't have to be complex, the simpler it is the better

Note:

Make sure when you are creating your city you divide your sections proportionally according to the size of board you chose to use. Your board will be determined by the size of boxes you would prefer to use.

Take some tracing paper and draw over each layer so that you can cut the layers separately for a more sculptured look.

Use the traced images to create individual layers. I alternated the green and white manila for each layer and the yellow manila for the sun and sun rays. Each layer of manila had a layer of sun, this creates depth and dimension to your skyline.

Step 2: Step Two: Creating the Buildings Plan

The next step was creating our city. the measurements for that section was 15 inches long by 24 inches wide. i tried to see how many boxes i could fit in that space and also leave some room for a road.

For this section you will need the following materials

Black, orange, blue and red paper ( i used poster paper 80gms)
light cardboard pieces. (i used some cake boxes that i had, its not too heavy or too light)
a pen blade
double sided tape and clear tape
cut outs of windows or window stickers (these you can print out, i used a basic window vector i got online)
white label stickers
Ruler, pencil and marker

Take some drawing paper and draw out a rough plan of how you would want to place your buildings). Take your boxes and place them on the plan to have a visual of how it will look.

The black paper will be your base and would also be the road. cutout your light cardboard where your buildings will seat and place them on the black paper.

Step 3: Step Three: Making the Buildings

Now it's time to make the boxes. Get your boxes and open them flat. Once they are open take your paper and wrap them, then tape them back together. Get some window stickers or print out small window images and cut them out, i would suggest you print out stickers and have them cut for you. stick them on the boxes and add some corrugated paper at the top as the roof.

take your double sided tape and tape them on the cardboard you cut out earlier then tape the board to your black paper base according to your plan.

Add some label stickers on the designated road area that you created on your building plan.

Step 4: Step Four: the Park

The third section i worked on was the park. the measurements were 7.5 inches long by 24 inches wide.

The materials needed for this section are

card stock paper (several shades of green and some brown)
green and brown 80gm paper (i used poster paper)
acetate or clear and blue see through plastic
floral wire
scissors
a glue gun and glue or strong liquid glue

Take your plan and some tracing paper and trace out the different sections. take your card stock paper and cut the different green sheets in sections as indicated in the plan. Take the clear paper and cut out a water body shape (pond, pool etc) just like it is in your plan and tape the pieces together with your double sided tape for the paper and for the clear plastic use the glue gun.

Step 5: Step Five: the Trees

Take your Floral wire and cut four 10 inch strips and fold the wires in half. Take the two half's and wrap them together as if you are twisting them and interlocking them. leave a small loop at the bottom and do not twist them all the way up.

At the top of the wire, separate the wires in two's and twist the four pairs of wire separately. Do not twist them completely because we still have to separate them again to create branches.

Once this is done separate the bottom loops and create a flat base that will help your tree stand straight.

Take your brown paper and cut it into strips, this is what we will use to wrap our tree and cover the wires. Take the green paper and cut it into small squares then after into smaller leaf shaped pieces. Glue the green pieces together then glue them to your branches

And there you have it! a Tree

Take your trees and using your glue gun to glue them to your park base.