Okay, so today I wanted to share something I put together recently – a little ‘kitten in a box’ toy. It wasn’t anything super complicated, just a bit of fun using stuff I mostly had lying around.
Getting Started
I saw a picture of something similar online, you know, those little wooden boxes where an animal pops out when you slide a switch? Looked neat. Thought I’d try making a simple version myself. Had this small, pretty sturdy cardboard box that seemed perfect for it. The kind jewellery sometimes comes in.
Gathering the Bits
So, I went digging through my craft drawers. Here’s what I grabbed:
- The small cardboard box.
- A little plastic kitten figure – found one from an old playset.
- Some popsicle sticks (craft sticks, whatever you call ’em).
- A few rubber bands.
- My trusty craft knife and scissors.
- A hot glue gun – essential!
- A bit of extra cardboard for reinforcement.
Nothing fancy, really. Just basic craft supplies.
Putting it Together
First job was prepping the box. I carefully cut a hole in the lid, roughly square, just big enough for the kitten’s head and shoulders to pop through. Had to be careful not to make it too big or tear the lid.
Next, the tricky part – the pop-up mechanism. I decided on a simple lever. I took one popsicle stick and hot-glued the little kitten figure firmly onto one end. This would be the arm that pops up.
Inside the box, I needed a pivot point for this stick. I cut a small piece from another popsicle stick and glued it across one corner inside the box, near the bottom. Then I rested the kitten stick on this pivot. Tested the movement – seemed okay.
Now, making it pop. I anchored a rubber band to the bottom of the box with a blob of hot glue (waited for it to cool a bit first!). Then I stretched the rubber band up and looped it around the kitten stick, on the side of the pivot opposite the kitten. This took some fiddling to get the tension right. Too loose and it wouldn’t pop up properly, too tight and it was hard to push down.
To hold the kitten down and release it, I cut a small horizontal slit in the side of the box. Then I took another popsicle stick and pushed it through the slit. The idea was this stick would slide in under the kitten stick, holding it down against the rubber band tension. When you pull the side stick out, pop, the kitten stick gets released by the rubber band.
Refinements and Finishing Touches
I noticed the pivot point needed a bit more support, so I glued some small squares of extra cardboard around it inside the box. Also added extra glue to the rubber band anchor, just to be sure.
The trigger stick sometimes snagged on the cardboard slit, so I rounded the end of the stick a little with sandpaper. Made it slide much smoother.
Tested it a bunch of times. Push the side stick in, press the kitten down until the stick holds it, close the lid (mostly, it sits slightly ajar when loaded), then pull the trigger stick out. Boing! The kitten head pops right out of the hole. Worked pretty well!
It’s simple, a bit rough around the edges maybe, but it was a fun little project to figure out. Took maybe an hour or so, mostly fiddling with the rubber band and the trigger. Now it sits on my desk, a silly little thing to play with when I’m thinking.
