Cardboard Carpentry is easy because cardboard is readily available. The images here are works of art using sturdy cardboard. But any cardboard will do. Cereal boxes, index cards, recycled greeting cards, cracker boxes or packing boxes are all suitable. Tape and glue are necessary. And very young children usually benefit from having someone to partner with.

Pictures can help. Images of huts, cabins, apartments, castles, duplexes, houses, stores, businesses and complexes give children an idea of how structures are assembled, connected, designed, decorated and interrelated.

Collections of miniature people, animals, transports, furniture, plants, grasses, toys, tools, kitchenware or art provide detail for the imagination.