Have some empty boxes at home?  In addition to recycling them, cardboard are great play materials for children.   Delivery packages, cereal and pasta boxes…..  They are not just a box…  A box can turn into a train, truck, dog house, and many more.  Best part is, most boxes are free, readily available and can entertain children for hours!   What can we do with a box?

Depending on the age of children, find different ways to involve children in the cardboard play.  Most children are contend with just playing with the boxes as is.  The children can crawl in bigger boxes, play pretend oven and so much more.  For smaller boxes, children can stack them up as tower and knock them down.  Boxes can also be recycled and turn into something totally different.

In order to transform the boxes, children can be encouraged to use their imagination and creativity to find different uses for the boxes. They then ‘plan’ and ‘design’ what they want to do.  And with a little bit of duct tape, scissors and other materials found at home, magic happens.  Do try to include everyone in the family, even for younger children.  Younger children can participate by helping to select the colour, placement for window for their playhouse, etc., as a way to involve them and have ownership of the family project.  Make sure to allocate time and space for children to work on their boxes, and take time to make the boxes to the next level of fun for them.

When families come together to create, whether it is a mailbox made out of a granola box, crowns made from recycling chocolate box, and play dome from the many more boxes.  Whether it is playing with reinvented box creations or simply playing with the empty boxes, these boxes guarantee many hours of fun and learning opportunities.  So the next time there are cardboard boxes, invite your children to think outside the box and have fun!!