We made a cardboard pirate ship from materials we already had. We took a large toddler go-kart sized cardboard box and cut the top and the open flaps off. Then we took 2 pieces of green insulation and a piece of triangular cardboard and made into our bow. We then glued and duck taped the bow to our cardboard box. Then we glued 2 small flat boards vertically, one in the front and one in the back (the size of quarter round) to each side of the ship for stability. We also glued 2 vertical boards and one horizontal board on the back for extra stability. Then we painted the whole ship a medium brown. We then cut out port holes & a door in that back that could open and close. We then carved the sides and back of the box to look more like a ship. After that we added the detail paint, we painted yellow around the portholes & outlined the door. Then we painted a black horizontal stripe down the middle of both sides, and we edged out the top of the box & the bow in red. We also added the red outline & the yellow portholes & door outline to the inside of the box. Next we took a large cardboard tube (used to roll fabric) and painted it black for our mast, we cut a hole a stuck it in the bow. We then cut another triangular piece of cardboard and glued it into the bow to make a shelf that could hold our wheel. Next we made a fully turnable cardboard ship wheel and we painted it yellow & red. We made it fully turnable by using a paper towel roll. We then made a red fabric flag and I painted a skull & crossbones on it, I also painted Captain Antonio for my nephew on it. We attached the flag to the mast and we went to the dollar tree and bought a glitter skull to put on the top of the mast. Then we went through and taped all the joints on the ship again with clear packaging tape. I also painted the floor of the box a darker brown to make it look more like a ship. The last thing we did was added a couple of pirate graphics that I printed off the computer and just glued on the ship. This was the first time making something like this and for me it came out way better than I expected. We decorated it so much that it actually looked like a ship and not a cardboard box, and my nephew loved it, which was really what mattered.