How to Do Fun Things with Cardboard Boxes and Kids

1. 1
   Realize the possibilities. Cardboard boxes are an open-ended and free resource readily available with numerous options for the home, school projects, costumes, crafts, sculpture, keepsake holders, games and much more.
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2. 2
   Decide first which project you are interested in below. Boxes are suitable for many activities, but you will need to consider storage and the age appropriateness for your own child.
3. 3
   Be prepared to provide supplies and supervise their use. You will need to supervise any box cutting for safety. You will need scissors, or a utility knife to cut holes.
4. 4
   Get some strong adhesives. Masking tape may not hold. You may need duct tape and white glue for a good hold. If time allows, use a special paper mache glue (in a powder form you mix with water) to bind corners and smooth out rough areas. If you want to paint the box you will probably need to cover the printed ink with tape or give the box a coat of white paint before the color planned.
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   Collaborate and get creative to make ideas work. Children often "think bigger" than they are capable of constructing. Don't let this hold them back, just work together. Set aside all cardboard boxes, mailing tubes of all sizes, along with yarn, string, rubber bands, potato chip containers, carry-out drink trays and paper egg cartons and on and on.

EditArts and Crafts

1. 1
   Create a makeshift masterpiece. Let the kids find their inner Michelangelo with cardboard as their canvas.
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   Build a diorama. Use a cardboard box to create small scenes, educational projects, and science fair displays. Create a miniaturized scene from a favorite childhood memory or use the box to display the project your child explored.
3. 3
   Decorate a holder of memories. A cardboard box the size of a shoe-box is perfect for letters, pictures or small trinkets that are close to your heart.
4. 4
   Make a picture frame. Cut out different shapes and sizes of cardboard to use as frames to hang your works of art.
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EditMake-Believe Games

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   Use cardboard to make supplies for a pizzeria. An appetizing activity using cardboard that serves as the “crust” while you pile it high with eye-catching “toppings”, colored paper pepperoni and other supplies around your home.
2. 2
   Build an impromptu car. Despite having no batteries, no steering and no wheels, you will be absolutely delighted pretending in your cardboard car!
3. 3
   Create a box city or village. Create the city or little village of your dreams made from cardboard boxes! Use paint, sharpies, clear vinyl, ribbon, scraps of paper and packaging to make windows, doors, chimneys and much more on your block houses.
4. 4
   Use a box for a Halloween costume. Become a purse, a doll, or anything you like by using a cardboard box for this year’s Halloween costume.
5. 5
   Craft a puppet stage. Make a puppet stage from an unimaginative box. design the backdrop with pieces of paper, poster board paint or maybe even some left over gift-wrap.
6. 6
   Make a bunk bed for mini dolls. Get an air freshener box and cut one side out. Get some scrap book paper and make covers. Get some more and a cotton ball to make a pillow. Do the same for the top bunk. Stack three straws and glue them to make a ladder. You now have a bunk bed.
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EditBuilding and Manipulatives

1. 1
   Make huge play blocks. Small boxes are great as disposable toy blocks. Just use some crayons on the sides.
2. 2
   Build a marble fun run. Use several pieces of cardboard taped together to create a fun path for your speeding marbles or balls. Do a little at a time so that you know it works before you get too ahead of yourself and the marble just gets stuck or goes to fast the moment it is released.
3. 3
   Make your own games. Make a list of all the games you can create with a cardboard. Heavy "cardstock" will work best for games with cards. Board games? Cut-out and decorate unique playing cards, made from the cardboard. Indicate the playing spaces on your board and make unique game pieces. Send out the invitations (hey, why not use cardboard?) to friends and let the games start.
4. 4
   Make your own puzzle. Cut-out various shapes that fit together to make flat or 3-D puzzles from a cardboard box. Make sure to use a sharp utility knife, as dull ones are actually more dangerous since more pressure is used to cut the cardboard, and hence a simple slip can turn into an expensive ER visit.
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EditProjects to Get Moving

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   Make play structures. An unaltered box is sufficient to keep children busy for hours. Sheets of flat cardboard can be used as “building sheets” and cardboard tubes can be used for supports. A spaceship? A submarine? An airplane? Endless possibilities!
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   Craft a makeshift sled. A flattened box makes a great on-the-spot sled!
3. 3
   Go "Ice" skating. Use packing tape to fasten sheets of cardboard onto the floor and pretend to “ice” skate in your socks!
4. 4
   Try your hand at a cardboard canoe: Find a box, large enough for your child to sit in it. Bring the ends of the cardboard box together, to create the pointy shape of a canoe, and use hot glue or duct tape to secure them in place.
5. 5
   Build a “find your way" maze. You will need lots of boxes, imagination and time to create a masterpiece to crawl-through!
6. 6
   Build a hideout. Draw on the outside of a large box (a Gaylord container is incredibly durable. You may even need a hack saw to cut an opening or a window) and decorate the inside any way you like. Depending on how well it is made it might just turn into the man cave once the kids leave home.
7. 7
   Create a fort. Forget the couch cushions... Stack boxes of various sizes and shapes to make a fort. Knock it down, and repeat!
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EditPractical Projects

1. 1
   Make a canine or feline bed. Is it for a real pet or the stuffed animal kind? It works for either. A low-sided box makes a great pet bed. Add an old pillow and nice cushy blanket. Grumpy cat won’t complain.
2. 2
   Build an eclipse viewer. Use a cardboard box to make a safe solar eclipse viewer.
3. 3
   Make a pinhole camera. Capturing your digital images through a small pinhole punctured in cardboard, can create that cool vintage look. Hold the pin-hole up to the camera lens and viola—unusual, unforgettable photographs. Try different sizes of holes. Use a screwdriver to poke a hole, a pencil, or even a pin from the sewing kit.
4. 4
   Make your own toy box. Cover over any sharp edges, decorate with fun colors and make this box fit your child's personality.
5. 5
   Use a box for a compost bin. Wriggly red worms turn food scraps and organic wastes into nature’s best soil to grow more food - and the worms love eating cardboard!
6. 6
   Make starter seedling pots. Home-growing is a favorite activity everywhere. Get small boxes, place into rows in a large foam container, fill with soil and plant seedlings. Watch your garden grow!
7. 7
   Take a stab at furniture making. Go big or tiny, easy, cheap and light furniture from cardboard! Cardboard furniture has been made into sculptures and is green ta' boot. Ikea's got nothin' on you.
8. 8
   Make some entrepreneur signage. Selling cold or hot drinks this weekend? Cardboard boxes can transform into signage with just a few easy snips and some markers.
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