A Christmas village and Christmas trees from recycled cardboard

1   Cut off the top piece of the carton for the church tower.

2   Cut the top part of another box. The remaining lower part of the nave measures approx. 13 cm.

3   Cut an approx. 1 cm notch in each corner and bend inwards.

4   Glue the tower and the nave together.

5   A tip: in order to keep the two carton sections in place until dry, put elastic bands around the cartons.

6   Cut out the roof for the tower and the nave from recycled cardboard. Cut an approx. 8 x 14 cm piece of cardboard for the tower and an approx. 12.5 x 21 cm piece of cardboard for the nave.

7   Paint the church with white craft paint.

8   Paint the roof with a coat of white craft paint first for better coverage and then with your chosen colour.

9   Fold the roof for the nave into a triangle. Fold the roof for the tower in the middle. Attach the roofs onto the tower and the nave.

10   Draw a door and windows. Cut out the windows and cut open the door.

11   Draw around the door and the windows with a black marker pen. Draw tiles on the roof with a white Plus Color marker.

12   Cut out milk/juice cartons in different sizes for the houses. Cut the roofs from recycled cardboard. Paint and decorate the houses and roofs in different colours. Glue the roofs onto the houses.

13   Here is a house with a cut-out door and windows.

14   Here is a house with a hand drawn door and windows.

15   Cut out the trees from recycled cardboard using the template which is available as a separate PDF file on this page. Each tree consists of two cut-outs. Cut an incision the same width as the thickness of the cardboard for a neater result. Cut an incision from the top on one and from the bottom on the other.

16   Assemble the tree.

17   Paint some of the trees with craft paint.

Another variant   See idea No. 15972 on how to make your very own Christmas train. See idea No. 15724 on how to make your very own Christmas figures.

Template   Print the template here.