Cardboard box Rocket ship

If you are regular here, you know meltdowns and sensory overload tend to be very regular things in our house. A few months ago we were at our wits end, and decided we really needed a safe, quiet space that would encourage our son to use it when we has getting overstimulated or frustrated. Since we regularly make recycled crafts and my oldest son loves anything space related, it was a no brainer to create a cardboard rocket ship! I was pretty sure it was going to be the perfect calm down sensory retreat for Legoman, but also be a great place for creativity, pretend play, and reading fun! I had no clue just how popular it would be.

{THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS TO MATERIALS I RECOMMEND. ANYTHING YOU PURCHASE THROUGH THESE LINKS HELPS SUPPORT LEMON LIME ADVENTURES. THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR CHOOSING TO SUPPORT US.}

After presenting my idea to the boys (age 6 and 8), I googled as many cardboard rocket instructions as I could find, and finally decided to make our own variation. I love to involve the boys in the planning and engineering of any of our projects, so naturally I had Legoman draw out his plans for our future cardboard rocket ship.

Luckily we had just gotten our new printer in and had the perfect box. You can use any large box, I know some people love refrigerator boxes or washing machine boxes. I was a tad worried our box would be a little too small, but it turned out that it’s size was absolutely perfect for giving a tight squeeze!

Materials Needed To Make a Cardboard Rocket Ship

Cardboard Boxes (We used one Large and One small box)
Exacto Knife for cutting details and holes out
Duct Tape (We used decorative tape, because, well…. Its pretty)
Aluminum Foil (optional)

Additional Materials to Turn your Rocket into a Squish Box

To learn more about squish boxes, be sure to check out A Sensory Life where she gives more great examples and explains all the benefits! If you just want to use your rocket for creativity and a special book nook, I know it would work well for those reasons too!

Like I already mentioned, we turned our cardboard rocket ship project into a family affair. Legoman got completely geared up in his construction gear, Bones was ready to help, and Super B couldn’t wait for her brothers to finish. Although it didn’t actually help get the project finished any faster, it made Legoman feel completely in control of this new space he was building and felt a great amount of pride as he sawed, sanded, and hammered his box.

Now it was time to get to work on turning our boxes into a REAL ROCKET SHIP! The first step was to measure and mark all of the corners on our box flaps. We measured an equal distance from the outside edge to make sure that all of the flaps would fold up nicely. This will vary depending on the size of your box.

Both boys worked diligently together to mark the lines and then cut off the triangle corners. We got some kid-friendly saws and construction tools a few years back and have been waiting for just the right project to use them on. I scored the lines with an exacto knife and then let the boys do the rest. If you have younger children, you will want to make a judgement on what your children are able to manage and what tools you feel comfortable letting them use.

Once all the corners were cut off, we folded up the flaps and taped the corners together with Duct tape.

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