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Warwick Manufacturing Group

Flat pack resource box

Christmas in a Box

Are Santa's Elves engineers? How do they get so many products made up and transported around the world?

One trick is to flatpack everything! Find out about how products are made from flat materials and put together afterwards in this resource box.

a sleigh made from paper

What are the boxes?

These resource boxes are for primary schools years 5 and 6 (9-11 years old). We have a limited stock to offer and we will prioritise schools on a widening participation basis. If we are unable to give you a box this year, please do accept our apologies - we are often inundated with requests!

We would like to send a huge thank you to our staff for helping us to pack these resource boxes and to anyone who contributed a design file for one of the paper templates - thank you so much - this would not have been possible without your help.

If you have any questions please get in touch at wmgoutreach@warwick.ac.uk

Register your interest in a Christmas Resource Box

If you would like to receive a Christmas Resource Box in 2023 please use this form

Lesson plans

Our resource boxes come with a lesson plan to help teachers and educators use the resources.

Box 1 - Flatpack to 3D with Paper Templates

Box 2 - Paper Engineering with Pop Up Cards

Presentations

To link our resource boxes to engineering and manufacturing, we have prepared a presentation that will provide context to the learning resources in the box.

Printable Templates

All of our printable templates can be found below. If we are unable to send you a box or you simply need more templates, print them out and have fun!

  • Paper Lantern

    New this year! Get your whole class to make one in different colours and decorate the classroom!

  • Paper Sleigh

    How does Father Christmas get around the world so fast? He's not sleigh-zy.

  • Paper Star

    Don't follow this star - but follow our instructions to make your own!

  • Paper Bauble

    Hang this bauble as a new decoration - it's exact-tree what you need this year!

  • Paper Stag

    Oh deer, I've run out of puns!

  • Christmas Tree

    A laser cut Christmas tree. A complicated way to turn a tree into a smaller tree.

  • Brownie Group Creations

    Sophie Meeson and her Brownie's group made these incredible creations.

  • Laser Cutter

    Beth Haynes making our laser cut Christmas trees.

  • 3D Printing

    Joe Benjamin and Ehm Altaf making our 3D printed items.

Are you here for the snowflakes from the Global Science Show? Click here!

Available on this page: lesson plan, presentation, feedback form, printable templates, and additional files.

lick the arrows to see more.

Lesson Plan

Available as a Word Document or as a PDFLink opens in a new window.

Presentation

Available as a Powerpoint presentation or as a static presentation (PDF)Link opens in a new window. Click a link to download the files.

N.B.: animated images/videos won't appear in the PDF version but the files are provided at the bottom of this page if you want to use them.

Making Paper into 3D Shapes - Tutorial

This video will show you how to create objects in 3 dimensions from 2 dimensional materials. There are 3 different ways to make a flat material into a 3D shape. You could use:

  • Slots
  • Folds, or
  • Bends.

Watch this video to find out how!

Feedback form

Please let us know what you thought of these resources - we are always ready and willing to learn from the experiences of teachers using our ideas. A feedback form is available here.

Printable templates

Paper Lantern

New this year!

Paper Lantern

Assembled version

Preview image of the template

Template of Paper Lantern

Snowflake 1

Snowflake 2Link opens in a new window

Snowflake 3Link opens in a new window

Template as a PDF file ready to print
A picture of some paper snowflakes

Cut out version
a snowflake template
a paper snowflake template
a paper snowflake template

StarLink opens in a new window

Template as a PDF file ready to print
paper star assembled

Assembled version
paper star template page 1
paper star template page 2

Preview image of the template

SleighLink opens in a new window

Template as a PDF file ready to print
paper sleigh assembled

Assembled version
paper sleigh template

Preview image of the template

SquirrelLink opens in a new window

Template as a PDF file ready to print
paper squirrel assembled

Assembled version
Paper squirrel template

Preview image of the template

StagLink opens in a new window

Template as a PDF file ready to print
paper stag assembled

Assembled version
Paper stag template

Preview image of the template

BaubleLink opens in a new window

Template as a PDF file ready to print
paper bauble

Assembled version
Paper bauble template

Preview image of the template

Gingerbread PeopleLink opens in a new window

Template as a PDF file ready to print
The assembled gingerbread people tower looks like this

Assembled version
Gingerbread people tower template page

DogLink opens in a new window

Template as a PDF file ready to print
The assembled dog template looks like this

Assembled version
Dog template page

Hillman Imp Car

Page 1 Link opens in a new windowand Page 2Link opens in a new window

Template as a PDF file ready to print
The assembled Hillman Imp car template looks like this

Assembled version
Page 1 of the Hillman Imp Car template
Page 2 of the Hillman Imp Car template

StandLink opens in a new window

Template as a PDF file ready to print

New to this year!

We will get a photo of the assembled version as soon as possible.
The stand used for the final group activity as a printable template

Additional videos and images

Video - Showing the laser cutter cutting the tree

Video - How to assemble the flatpack christmas treeLink opens in a new window

Video - How to make the paper lanternsLink opens in a new window

You can also download the files used to laser cut some of the items featured in these products by clicking here. Please note that the bookshelf item also used 3D printed bracket components.