Cardboard Creations

In 2005 the cardboard box was inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame. I can remember hearing that it had been nominated and thinking it was brilliant. When it actually made it in I was thrilled.

During my childhood my mom was a very successful Avon lady. Each shipment of orders arrived in several cardboard boxes which would, as soon as they were emptied, be claimed by my brothers and I. We turned those boxes into cars, beds, trains and more. We were lucky to have an endless supply. As soon as one batch of boxes got destroyed or boring, just like magic, another batch arrived. Every once in a while we acquired boxes of different shapes and sizes from other sources and that only fueled our creativity.

Some toys are designed to encourage imaginative play and creativity. Some are supposed to improve fine or gross motor skills, while others teach ABC’s, counting and more. However, no matter how expensive or complex a toy is there is always the possibility that the child will be just as excited about the box it comes in. So, every once in a while it makes sense to skip the expensive toy altogether and just get a box.

Here are just a few ideas of what to do with a cardboard box:

Puppet Theatre – Cut* out a hole in the front for the stage and a hole in the bottom to put your hand in. Decorate using crayons, markers, fabric, paint or whatever else you can find. Secure on the edge of a table so the puppeteer can hide underneath. If you happen to have a box big enough for the puppeteer to fit inside you can just make a hole for the stage (either in front or on top!).

Robot Costume – Cut* holes for the child’s head and arms then decorate with whatever robot-themed items you can find (tin-foil, plastic cups, bottle caps, pipe-cleaners, etc).

House/Fort – Cut* only three sides of the windows and doors so they can swing open and closed. Small peep-holes of different shapes and sizes are especially fun for forts. As always, decoration is key.  Use markers or crayons to add shutters, a doorbell, house number, and even a flower garden. Adults/big kids can draw the outlines for little ones to color in.

Barn – Same thing as the house except it only needs to be as big as their animals. Smaller boxes can be used for water and food troughs, yarn for hay, and pipe-cleaners or popsicles sticks for fences.

Train – If you have a few boxes of similar shapes and sizes line them up to make a train. Draw on wheels and connect them with string or even just tape. Load them up with passengers (real or imaginary) and you’re ready to go!

Cars – Draw on wheels and other details and use a paper plate for a steering wheel!

Bed – All you really need is a blanket and someone to tuck in. You can make it fancier by cutting* out a head and footboard and adding a pillow for a mattress.

All of these can be adapted to be educational as well as fun. Try decorating your box with the alphabet and/or numbers. Practice shapes by making windows that are squares, circles, triangles, etc. Learn colors by making each side of the box a different color. Larger forts with lots of doors and tunnels can be good for gross motor skills while making the decorations is good for fine motor skills. Remember the inside of the box can be decorated too!

The possibilities are only limited by your imagination, and the number of boxes you can find!

*Cutting cardboard can be difficult! I prefer to mark where I need to cut then take the box well away from little fingers and hands (kitchen counters work well) and use a knife rather than scissors. If you have little ones who are going to chew on the edges a little packing tape will help it to last longer and limit the amount of cardboard that is ingested.