Fast and Easy Fire Truck Play

The other week we had a friend over to play. With three little boys in the house, the play quickly turned to our extensive collection of vehicles. All three boys especially became focused on using our well loved fire trucks. (We have two fire trucks which were one of our favorite yard sale finds last year, two for $2!)

They kept trying to find things "to put out" which led to this fast and easy fire truck play set up. 

With three little kiddos hanging around, I wanted set up something fast and easy to match where their attention was at. I was quickly drawn to our recycling bin and a few simple craft materials to create with.

Materials: 

Construction paper

Clear tape

Permanent/black maker

Straws

Clean recycling containers (cereal boxes, pasta boxes, granola bar boxes, etc.) 

To Create: 

1. Wrap the boxes in sheets of construction paper and use the tape to secure the paper.  (In our case some boxes needed two sheets to cover one whole box.  Sometimes I trimmed the paper so I didn't need to cover the top, other times I wrapped a box like I was wrapping a present.)

2. Draw windows, doors, and other details onto the boxes to make them look like buildings. 

3. Cut flames out of red and orange paper, also use black marker to add details. 

4. Gently tape the flames to the buildings so they can be removed when the fire is "out."

For the sprayers: 

5. Cut small squares of paper (about 3 inches by 3 inches.) Cut thin strips down each square, but don't cut all the way through so that there is solid edge. 

6. Cut the straws in half. Roll up the squares into small bundles and tuck the uncut edge into the straw so the cut edge hangs outs. 

Definitely fast and easy fire truck play, within just a few moments the village was set up enough for the boys to start playing. I added a few more buildings and a tree made from a paper towel tube. 

The boys loved rushing to the "fires" and using the sprayers to put the fires out. They played with the set up, taking the fires on and off for a while. 

The other great part about this type of play material? When the playdate was over and the boys' attention moved away from the game, the houses just went right back into the recycling bin. So, fast and easy clean up too! 

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