You know those lazy days you spend just lounging around your house? Well, although we’re not usually lounging at home, we do have a nice amount of downtime since we run our businesses from home. Pair that with an anxious toddler and you’ve got the perfect mixture for a tantrum unless you can find a way to keep them entertained.
I especially love when I get a random strike of genius for a fun toddler approved activity. In this case, my hubby and I spent absolutely no money and about an hour of our time to create something Natalia could keep entertained with for a solid 2 months.
Before you begin making your own light tunnel, you’ll need to gather a few things.
-A large box. We actually used the box that the baby’s car seat was -packaged in. Open the top and bottom to create a “tunnel”.
-A knife or screwdriver for punching holes in the box.
-A strand of Christmas lights.
Using the knife or screwdriver, make holes in one side of the box. You can choose to do a completely random design or have them be even spaced in lines. We chose lines just because I figured it would be easier to navigate the strand of lights that way. Once you have all the holes you want, simply stuff the bulbs of the lights into each hole.Okay, okay. You’re probably thinking this doesn’t look like much, right?To a 2 year old, it’s a thing of absolute magic. 
If you can convince your daddy to join you, all the better. 😉
Of course, we didn’t stop at just the tunnel. The tunnel was added to an existing homemade playhouse that Jake also made from boxes. We happened to get our post office order in the next day which consists of boxes and boxes of envelopes, boxes, and other packaging material.
You can see the larger “play house-like” section on the right side of this photo. You can also see where the tunnel was added. Jake then took the boxes (of boxes) and created a maze from the other entrance of the playhouse. It spanned our entire living room.
It really just goes to show how a few household items can create a magical memory for your children. (Not to mention save your sanity a bit by providing them with entertainment so you can do other things.)
I’m a creative young mom, wife and entrepreneur loving life in rural Idaho and having a crazy time filling it with laughter and handmade treasures.
Wow! My boys would love this. In fact, my youngest was sad for months after Christmas that the houses on our street no longer have Christmas lights. Thinking about making them a cardboard playhouse with lights 🙂
My son would just LOVE to have something like this in our home. We have such a small living room space that I don’t know if I could leave it up long-term without going crazy, but I’d love to do it for him for Christmas!
Making a light tunnel looks like so much fun! My daughter would love playing in one. Maybe I’ll just get her a box and put here in there with her star projection ladybug.
My 2 year old nephew gets so much play time out of big boxes as is, I think adding lights like this would make it into a week long toy at least! Great idea.
Oh my gosh – what a GREAT idea! My kis LOVE boxes and sometimes we have a living room filled with them, much like your pics! Haven’t thought of doing the lights before so this is one I will definitely do!
How fun! It’s like a DIY lite-brite. Love it.
This is exactly what I needed as I’m in such a Christmas spirit and am getting to planning monthly activities for L for fall/winter. Of course this will be on the December schedule. LOVE it!