I have come to the conclusion the that a cardboard sword is a dress up box essential.

Being surrounded by princess dresses and tutus, my daughter asked me for her sword the other day.

A sword? We don’t have swords. But she insisted she could never save her beloved bunny from the clutches of the evil teddybear with the broken eye without a sword.

Of course. Every child needs a sword to play the hero in their fantasy world.

So we made one, a good one, one to last many dramatic play moments for years to come. Read along how we figured out how to make a cardboard sword from recycled materials.

How to Make a Cardboard Sword for Kids

This is a very easy, straight forward diy craft project. You’ll have it made in no time.

Here’s what you’ll need:

– (grey) duct tape

– wooden dowel or random (thin) stick

– sturdy cardboard roll (we asked the fabric shop if we could have their empty rolls)

– fabric scraps

– scissors

I made two holes in the cardboard tube and stuck the wooden dowel through. This makes for a great cross guard and will give the hilt a ‘real sword’ like look when finished.

On the other end of the cardboard roll, I cut into the cardboard trying to shape it like the point of a sword.

What happened was that by cutting away the edges, the cardboard lost it’s strength and the point became a bit floppy.

Now, that won’t do for an invincible sword! You can prevent this by stuffing part of the cardboard roll with more cardboard.

Then you wrap it all up in duct tape. It takes an adult to carefully tape the point of the sword and tuck the stuffing in nicely. My daughter happily taped the rest of her sword by herself. I may have helped a bit near the cross guard and the top of the hilt.

When the entire sword is taped, you can wrap the hilt with fabric scraps. If you don’t have any lying around, you could rip up an old t-shirt or towel.

My daughter enjoyed picking out her favourite colours, wrapping it around herself and attempting to tie secure knots. I let her have a go first and tightened things up where necessary afterwards.

The fabric scraps give the sword a medieval or even older Viking look. I really liked the result myself!

We ended up making four swords. One for my daughter, one for my son and two spare ones, for friends to play with when they come around to visit.

My daughter loves her cardboard sword. She has slept next to it for a couple of days and many a brave battle has been fought in our living room. My two year old boy had to work hard to stand his ground!

Setting the Scene for Dramatic Play

“Imagination is more important than knowledge”, Albert Einstein said. And I couldn’t agree more.

Imaginative play is a great confidence booster, helps children express themselves and regulate their emotions, encourages creativity and most of all is fun.

Have a look at our imaginative play activities here, from small worlds to dramatic play ideas and travel tins to story baskets.

Have fun!

Ann*

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