Creating a three dimensional shape from a flat piece of paper is a great way to teach your child about shapes and volume. This pop-up paper village comes with free printables. Just add crayons, scissors and glue.

What you need:

• 1 x large house printable template
• 1 x small house printable template
• 1 x town hall printable template
• 1 x apartment block printable template (1 of 2)
• 1 x apartment block printable template (2 of 2)
• 1 x corner shop printable template
• 6 x A4 sheets of thick paper (210gsm is ideal as it will still go through the printer)
• glue
• scissors
• paints, crayons, textas or coloured pencils
• sticky tape

Hints and tips:

If you don’t feel confident drawing on your own facade, we’ve included an accessories page here with windows and doors.

• Accessories

How to make a pop-up paper village

Watch the video below to see the pop-up paper village take shape before your very eyes.

Start by printing out your free printable templates. The shapes work best if you use thick paper, so try to get 210gsm at least.

The easiest way is to paint the facades on your printables, and then cut them out for construction.  So use your imagination or use the accessories template for inspiration.

Now cut out your paper village printables.  Fold on the dotted lines (don’t forget to fold where the roof meets the building) and put glue on the tabs to stick them all together. You may need to hold them in place until the glue sets, so small children will need help here.

Lay out a big piece of butcher’s paper and draw a road onto it.  Set out your papercraft village. Add trees (Lego trees and people are perfectly scaled for this pop-up village!) people, cars (Matchbox cars might work well too) whatever you fancy. We even added a grizzly bear and Darth Vader to our village!  There’s no rules when if comes to your papercraft village.

Hints and tips:

• You could also use scrapbooking paper (available at craft shops) to create a patterned village!
• Spend some time ‘researching’ building types with your child to get a good idea of how to decorate your town hall and bigger buildings.  Just look in picture books or even on the internet if you are feeling fancy and digital.

NOTE:

Pop-up paper village printables should be printed in the ‘portrait’ setting. If you have trouble printing, please check your printer settings.

Thanks to our sister company Kidspot for creating the instructional video.