Step right up, don’t be shy! The circus is in town, grab some popcorn and let the entertainment begin, starting with our range of circus costumes at CostumeBox. You can find the materials for these wooden people at any craft store.Fantastic Circus Costumes Ideas That Will Make You Want To Run Away And Join The Circus. They had found some pegs and added fabric clothes, a giant red pom-pom hat, and a black sharpie face. They came up with the idea when I was in another room cleaning up. The wooden peg clowns were made by the kids and my 14-year-old daughter (who was assisting me at the time). Between taping rolls, beading pipe cleaners, tiling floors, and cutting curtains, there was enough variety that each new step seemed fresh and exciting. They showed up each day so excited to continue their tents! It was a labor of love, but they never got tired of working on them. The kids completed this project over the course of three days. Use small pieces of pipe cleaners to pull back the curtains (I used a regular pipe cleaner cut in half). Glue all four pieces to the sides of your box using craft glue. You can use this as a template to cut three more.Ĭut a slit up the middle of each piece of fabric, making sure to stop just before reaching the top. Add a large pom-pom of a different color.Ĭut out a piece of the striped fabric to fit one side of the box. Glue the carton cup face down onto the top of the tube. Pour a little bit of tempera paint into a few small bowls (I used yellow, light green, pink, and light blue).ĭecide on your roof color and paint the outside of your egg carton cup.

You can always just squeeze straight from the glue bottle, but using a bowl and brush makes it easier to reach inside the box, plus kids tend to use less glue. Pour some glue into a small bowl and use a paint brush (I like using the ones that come with paint sets) to glue down the papers. Continue beading the pipe cleaners all the way around until a roof is formed. Next, use duct tape on the inside of the box to secure the other end of the pipe cleaner (we used colored duct tape to make the inside of our tents look as fun as the outside). Let the kids string beads on the pipe cleaners until they reach the top of the box. When the frame of your tent is completely dry, string pipe cleaners through about half of the holes at the top of the paper towel roll. Glue the paper towel roll into the bottom of the box. Here comes the fun! The kids can cover their paper towel roll with washi tape (this is a fun activity even without making the tents!) They can either rip the tape with their fingers, or use small scissors. These will be used later to attach the pipe cleaners. Punch holes around the top of the paper towel tube with your hole puncher. Next cut out the circle on the top layer of the bottom flaps (see bottom right image). Trace around the paper towel roll on the bottom of the box, in the center. Draw arches on all four sides, and cut them out with the craft knife. Get your box ready: Cut off the top flaps of the box. ~ Pom-poms (one large for the top of the tent) How to Make Cardboard Circus Tents ~ Red striped fabric (or paint/color your own stripes on white fabric) ~ Colored paper cut into small squares (for the floor)

~ Beads (we used pony beads and cut-up paper straws) ~ One small cardboard box (about 8” x 8” x 6”) Supplies Needed for Cardboard Circus Tents I’m so excited finally share this tutorial with you! These circus tents were such a big hit with everyone! They were so proud to bring home their colorful circus tents and their parents told me they played with them all week.

The theme of the week was Join the Circus and we made clown masks, trapeze mobiles, ice cream cones, and lots of cheery bunting. One of my all-time favorite art camp projects we made on the very first week of summer art camp I ever did were these Cardboard Circus Tents.

Red and white circus stripes