Turn a cardboard box into a pretend play reptile aquarium with this fun upcycled craft for kids!
Have a kid who’s been begging for a pet that kinda’ makes your skin crawl (I’m looking at you, snake)? Or been asked for a classroom pet, only to wonder how on earth you can fit another living thing into your already busy teaching schedule?
This fun pretend play pet tank project is here to save the day! Made from simple recycled materials, it combines art, design, research into animal habitats, simple construction, and nature collection into one lovely little classroom (or afternoon-at-home) project.
Press play for a quick preview of our own recycled cardboard box play pet tank!
In addition to being an imagination-building alternative to the real thing (temporarily scratching that “I need a pet!” itch), this provides a wonderful opportunity to discuss animal habitats like:
- What kind of environment does a lizard live in?
- How about a turtle, a frog, or a snake?
- How are their lifestyles and homes different, and what will they need in their tank?
If your kids enjoy this, make more aquariums to fill with scrape paint tree frogs, hopping paper frogs, or our classic chameleon craft. Find even more ideas for little pet lovers among our collection of pretend play pet crafts.
To make your own cardboard play pet tank you’ll need:
Note: We prefer to shop locally or use what we have at home, but this list contains Woodpeckers Crafts, Etsy, Blick Art Materials, Bookshop.org and/or Amazon affiliate links for reference. As affiliates (and Amazon Associates), we make a small commission on qualifying purchases.*
BASIC SUPPLIES:
- A small-medium sized cardboard box
- A piece of plastic (we used the lid of a grocery store vegetable tray)
- A box cutter, cardboard scissors (these are the kind I use), or similar
- A hot glue gun
- Acrylic or tempera paints
- Paper in a variety of colors
- Craft glue, clear tape, or a glue stick
- Pretend pets! (We made our lizards using this simple tutorial and printable from ART CAMP, but you can make your own types of animals or use existing play animals or softies.)
FOR THE FOLIAGE:
- Scrap cardboard or cardboard tubes
- Paint
- Scissors
- Scrap paper
- Collected nature materials – sticks, bark, rocks, pinecones, etc.
- Misc. recycled items to make into a food bowl, water drip, etc.
OPTIONAL:
- Paper packaging tape, electrical or duct tape to cover the edges of your plastic tank “front”
DIY Cardboard Pretend Play Pet Tank Instructions:
Trim one side off a cardboard box.
Begin by cutting one side off of a cardboard box. I actually completely took our box apart, turned it inside out, and hot glued it back together (you can use packing tape instead) so the outside wouldn’t have printing on it.
We trimmed the cut side of our box down to size and laid it on the “floor” of our tank to give the bottom a little added strength.
Cut a piece of plastic big enough to cover the front. This is a great way to reuse some plastic packaging instead of throwing it away – we used the top of a store-bought
cut vegetable tray.
Cover the inside of your box with colorful paper or paint.
Using paint, construction, or wrapping paper, cover the inside of the box to create the backdrop for your environment. We hot glued the paper to our box sides, but you can also use craft glue or a couple of small pieces of clear tape.
Consider the environment your “pet” will need.
We used bold, bright colors and tropical touches to create the look of a steamy, lush climate for our little lizards. Depending on the climate your pretend pet lives in, you might use a very different color palette, shapes, and elements.
Designing your tank for a pond turtle would require very different colors & materials than a tank for a desert-dwelling snake. Maybe you also need to add an area of “water,” a food bowl, or even a faux heat lamp… :-).
You can use pictures of actual pet tanks or reptile terrariums for reference.
Collect foliage to use in your pet tank.
To create our environment, we used a mixture of collected natural materials, cut paper foliage, and painted cardboard flowers and leaves. You can create fun textures on your elements by using stamps, dripped paint, fringe cuts, and more.
Add your foliage to your pet tank.
Once you have all your elements ready, it’s time to set up your environment in your box. Arrange the items to create a nice home for your play pet to inhabit.
We made sure to include a lovely little sunning spot for our lizard with a piece of long bark and added a few angled sticks for climbing.
We also added some waves of “grass” in the back to create a little dimension and give our lizards a little “hiding spot.” A couple of small dabs of hot glue at the bottom keep the grass strips in place.
Add animals!
You simply cannot have a pet play tank without the pets, and we thought a stylish pair of lizards were just what our tank needed. We made our “lizzies” using this simple (but stunning!)Â tutorial and printable template from ART CAMP.
ART CAMP’s tutorial includes a few easy, but inspired tips to make these look incredibly life-like…wait until you see the versions they made with chalk!
Glue or tape the clear plastic piece to the front of your tank.
Once we set up our tank environment, we glued the front of our tank on. Cut plastic can have fairly sharp edges – if yours does, we recommend keeping little fingers safe by wrapping the edges with strips of electrical tape as we did.
This also creates nice finished edges to make your tank look supremely close to the real thing!
We thought it would be a little easier to try out different tank setups (and take some pictures to share with you) without the front of our tank attached, but you can add yours whenever you’d like. As there’s no top, it’s easy to move things around and play.
Don’t they look so amazing?? And you might recognize a little ART CAMP influence in the environmental elements too…paint-stamped leaves inspired by their paper wildflower wreath, and painted southwestern foliage shapes, just like in their paper roll cacti.
Short on time or looking for a different kind of pet? You can make your own types of animals (try an egg carton turtle, or bubble-wrap printed chameleon perhaps!) or use existing play animals or stuffed animals.
For more recycled cardboard fun, use the sides of a box to design your own foldout secret garden or make a BIG foldout city landscape book! For kids who were more into the wild (animal) side of this craft, head outside for a backyard safari!
Or use a shoebox to make your own upcycled nature explorer kit – it’s a perfect way to collect and study the natural supplies you might want for your pet tank.
*A note about affiliate links: We strive to use simple, earth-friendly supplies that can be purchased locally whenever we can, but sometimes we find the best universally available options, a rare eco-friendly find, or a niche product only available on Blick Art Materials, Amazon, Etsy, or Woodpeckers Crafts. When included in our supply list, these products are affiliate links, and if you click through to make a purchase we receive a small commission that helps us re-order these supplies!
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I love seeing all the ways people make these ideas their own! If you're sharing the results of one of our projects, mention or tag me with @barleyandbirch, or share it in the comments of one of our Pinterest project pins.
