Meet Chompy

There are days when you just need a quick-fix project — something you can just slap together and let entertainment happen on its own. (I’m looking at YOU, quarantined-parents-working-from-home.) For little ones, here’s a project that takes little time to make, and skews high on the work-to-amusement ratio. With no further adieu, I introduce you to Chompy. He’s cardboard, he’s hungry, and he’ll eat all day long.

When we made him 6 years ago, he sat in our Santa Monica backyard and ate everything from pebbles, to lemon tree leaves, to ants. Two small, ambitious chefs prepared a marathon of meals for him in their toy kitchen. Eventually, he dried out in the California sun, but one thing is for certain – he never went hungry .

To make Chompy, all you’ll need is:

• A cardboard box
• A knife or scissors
• A black marker
• (Optional: watercolor/construction paper + glue)

Based on how much effort you want to put into this, Chompy can be either Basic or Fancy-pants. I’ll be demonstrating Fancy-Pants here. Although as you can see from the above video, a box cutter and a Sharpie will do just fine. There’s nothing wrong with being basic.

STEP 1: Find a box, cut an upside-down “U,” and fold it forward.

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STEP 2: If teeth are desired, grab some stiff white paper and give that Chompy some pearly whites.

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STEP 3: Draw some eyes right onto the box with marker. OR, if you’re going Fancy-Pants, make some eyeballs out of paper and attach.

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STEP 4: Stop here — or make a mouth and tongue out of some construction paper, and attach with glue…

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STEP 5: …and add some bottom teeth.

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And that’s it. Embellish as desired, but Chompy is pretty much ready to go.

Bon appetit, Chompy!