7 steps to create a DIY cardboard castle at home           

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When you think about making a castle, cardboard may not be the first building material you think of. But whether you need a rainy-day activity, or simply want an addition to imaginative play for children, a cardboard castle is the perfect choice. 

Let your imagination run wild and join the kids with this cardboard castle idea, which can later be filled with princesses, knights, or even cardboard tube animals – who said that animals can’t live in castles? 

Learning how to make a cardboard castle is easy, and largely remains the same whatever the shape or size. It’s the decoration you can really fly and get creative with, so have a think about what kind of castle you want to build before you get started. Once you’ve chosen a design and planned your castle, you’ll need to follow these 6 simple steps to create your cardboard castle: 

• Make the cone-shaped tower roofs.  
• Cut your cardboard towers to size.  
• Attach the roofs to the towers.  
• Draw (or stick!) on windows and doors. 
• Wrap or colour in a rectangular cardboard box.  
• Attach your towers to your box. 

Read on for more details on each step, with visuals to guide you through the process of how to make a castle out of cardboard. 

How to make a castle out of cardboard: what you need 

One of the great things about this DIY castle is that it uses leftover packaging, so you’re not only teaching the children how to make a castle from cardboard boxes, but also how to recycle in creative ways! 

You will need to get together the five following things for your cardboard castle DIY: 

• One or more cardboard boxes
• Empty cardboard rolls from kitchen towels and toilet paper
• Coloured paper
• Glue
• Paint, pens, stickers – whatever you’d like to use to decorate your DIY castle.

How to make a cardboard castle: step-by-step instructions 

Once you have gathered together everything that you need for your DIY castle, it’s time to get creative. Simply follow this 7-step guide for how to make a cardboard castle:  

1. First, decide on a design for your castle. Depending on the design you choose, you may want a variety of cardboard tubes and boxes, in a selection of colours, shapes and sizes. You could even encourage your children to draw their castle design on a piece of paper first, so you can make their ideas a 3D reality together!  
2. Next, make up some tower roofs. To form the roofs of the towers, use coloured-in or printed paper to cut two circles with a diameter of 13 cm, and two circles with a diameter of 15 cm. Cut the circles in two, fold to form a cone shape, and tape the two sides together, inside the cone. You will need to cut the same number of circles to match the number of towers you have planned for your castle.  
3. Now it’s time to make the towers. Glue plain paper onto your kitchen towel rolls and toilet paper tubes. Leave the paper sticking out 3-4 cm at the top of the roll, and 1 cm at the bottom of the roll. On the bottom, fold the paper inside the roll. On the top, make vertical cuts in the paper to create a fringe, bend down, and add glue so you can glue it to the roof.
4. Now you have the parts you need, build your cardboard castle towers. Position the cone roofs on the top ends of the covered cardboard tube towers (large cones on large tubes, small cones on small tubes). Push a pencil up from underneath to push the fringes onto the cone, to glue them together. You can also leave some towers with flat roofs, to stack them on top of each other.   
5. Decorate the towers. Draw windows and doors on each tower with a pen and add any other decorations that fit your chosen theme. To make it a bit easier, you can draw your doors and windows onto the paper before sticking it to the cardboard tube. If you don’t want to draw them on, why not cut out some paper shapes to create the decorations instead? 
6. Cover your cardboard box/es with coloured paper. This creates the central base for your cardboard castle, so simply adapt the size, shape, and number of boxes according to the design you’re going for. 
7. Now it’s time to build your magical castle. Place a large tower tube in the centre of the covered cardboard box. Place the other large towers with cone roofs around the box in the four corners, and the smaller towers with cone roofs on top of the box, to complete your cardboard castle. 

See, how easy was that? These seven steps are all you need to have a load of fun at home with your own cardboard castle. DIY never looked so good! 

What kind of castle made out of cardboard will you create? 

Now you have seven simple steps to follow for how to create a cardboard castle. Once you’ve got the basic cardboard castle DIY mastered, it’s time to get creative and change up the design. Why don’t you try one of these themes for your cardboard castle: 

• Princess castle 
• Knight castle 
• Dragon castle 
• Pirate castle 
• Space castle 
• Seabed castle 
• Fairy/elf castle 
• Animal castle 

We hope you found our guide on how to make a castle out of cardboard fun and easy-to-follow. With that, you have our guide for how to make a cardboard castle and the only thing limiting you now is your imagination. In six simple steps you can create any number of castle designs. All that’s left is to decide what type of castle made out of cardboard you’ll create first! 

Oh, and don’t forget to always recycle your cardboard once you’re done with it! Break it down first, and then leave it in the paper bin. Otherwise, you can also compost it for mulch and gardening. 

If you enjoyed reading this article, you might want to take a look at our family life hub. It’s full of great craft ideas, including making a handmade bunting and easy paper crafts to keep your children occupied, without the mess.