Recycled Box to Make a Miniature Barn for Kids

Learn how to make a Miniature Barn for Kids with an Upcycled Pasta Box. It's a perfect project for crafting with kids.

Yes, another upcycled project you can make with a Pasta Box - how to make a Miniature Barn. It's a great craft to actually make with the kids. The pattern includes a free template for the shape of barn, barn doors, and printable files for the inside barn, straw for the barn floor and loft, and outside barn wood siding.

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Instructions to make the Miniature Barn from Recycled Boxes

• Copy the pattern for the miniature barn - Design no. 86
• Cut out the cardboard templates for the cardboard barn
• Print the barn siding and barn floor
• Cut out the barn shape for the inside siding
• Trace the barn outline on the opened pasta box
• Cut out the barn shape from the recycled box
• Glue the cardboard templates to the barn
• Prime and paint the cardboard barn
• Glue the barn siding to inside back of the barn
• Add the barn doors to the front of the barn
• Glue the barn together
• Adhere the roof to the miniature barn

Copy and cut out the pattern for the miniature barn

First, download the free barn pattern from the Paper Glitter Glue library. It's design no. 86 in the Paper Glitter Glue library.

To get access to the password protected library, just type in the password in the space provided. If you do not have the password, subscribe to my newsletter with the form at the bottom of this page and you will get the password right away.

Next, copy the pattern to make the miniature barn.

Here's a list of pieces to make the barn from a recycled pasta box:

• Template for the front and back of the barn
• 3 doors - 2 doors for the main barn, and one small door for the barn loft
• Roof piece
• Barn loft
• Printable patterns for the inside barn siding, straw floor for the barn, optional file for the outside barn siding

Cut the cardboard template for the barn. This pattern is easy to cut out by hand, but I used my Cricut to cut things out because it is even easier.

Open up the pasta box by gently separating the tabs that hold the box together. If the tab tears, you can make a new one with a cardboard strip.

Finally, trace the cardboard barn pattern onto the pasta box.

Here is the recycled box after cutting out the barn shape.

Here's how the pattern looks in Cricut's Design Space. First is the outline of the barn - front, back, and sides.
Next, see how the loft floor piece and the roof piece look in Cricut's Design Space. Both of these pieces have lines to change from cut to score and then attach.

Print the barn siding and barn floor

After you have the shape of the barn cut out, print the inside barn walls and straw for the barn floor.

And here is the optional printed siding for the outside of the barn. You can either paint the outside of the barn or glue this printed paper to the outside of the barn.

Next, cut out the barn shape for the siding inside

Once again, I used my Cricut to cut out the siding, but you can cut it out easily by hand.

First I printed the inside siding which has straw for the barn floor and the loft. Then I ran that through my Cricut. Below you can see the cut out pieces.

Glue the cardboard templates to the barn

In order to make the barn more sturdy (pasta boxes are pretty flimsy), glue the cardboard template to the pasta box.

Prime and paint the cardboard barn

If you are going to paint the outside of the barn, prime the outside of the barn first. Next, paint the barn with a deep red acrylic paint. If you want to use the printed red barn siding, you can glue that on now. Even with the printed barn siding, I still paint the edges of the box red so when the box is folded the edges are a deep red color.

Glue the barn siding to inside back of the barn

After painting the barn or gluing the printed barn siding on the outside of the barn, then glue the barn siding the the straw on the inside of the barn as shown below.

Add the barn doors to the front of the barn

Cut a strip of red card stock about 1 inch wide x 2.75 inch long. Score it in the middle of the card stock. Glue the card stock strip to the back of the door. Let dry. When the card stock is firmly adhered to the door, then center the doors on the front of the barn. Now apply glue to the card stock strip and adhere to the barn. Let dry.

And here is how the door hinge looks on the bottom doors.

Glue the barn together

First, glue the loft in place before you glue the side of the barn.

Once barn doors are affixed to the barn, apply glue to the tab on the side and the front of the loft. Usually I reinforce the glue tab with some painter's tab to hold it while the glue dries.

After you glue the side tab together, then glue the roof tabs to the roof flaps. Again use tape to hold the tabs in place while the glue dries.

Also glue the flaps on the bottom in place.

Finally, glue printed straw paper to the barn floor with a thin glue like Mod Podge.

Adhere the roof to the miniature barn

Now that the little cardboard barn is glued together, glue the roof to the barn. Now the barn is ready for play.

Have any questions? If so, email me at [email protected]. And remember to pin any photos to your favorite Pinterest board.

Thank you for reading.

Lucy