Fun with Cardboard boxes

(Goblin is 22 months)

Goblin's uncle works for an organisation that gets parts delivered in giant cardboard boxes. Every so often he brings one over for his nephew to play with. I think there are a lot of similarities between toddlers and cats when it comes to cardboard boxes - they just can't stay out of them. 

When we get a new box I often think "What can I do to make this box exciting for Goblin?". But to be honest I don't need to do anything. Goblin makes his own entertainment as this little clip shows. 
 





Amazingly this box survived the zorbing and Goblin had a yogurt based picnic in it. He even took his little stool into the box, and shut the flaps so he could eat in private.

The next day when I came home from work Hublet had made it into a fort. 

We had to add a porch because at 20 months Goblin wasn't very good at remembering to duck. He kept trying to walk out of the fort and taking the whole box for a walk across the room. It survived for about a week before a second zorbing episode killed it off. Still thats half the fun of cardboard boxes, they are disposable (recyclable) entertainment.


My latest cardboard box adventure required a bit more creativity from me. I'd been planning to buy Goblin a street map play mat to play with his cars on. But I found they were either quite small or quite expensive. So instead I decided to make my own using a flattened cardboard box I found in the back of a cupboard. 

I was so pleased with how this turned out. It didn't look like much until i added the white lines, then it came alive. As well as a little helipad for Goblin's newly acquired rescue helicopter, I added a farm for his tractor. The advantage of making your own play mat is you can add some educational bonuses. So at the top left you can see some numbered parking garages - to encourage Goblin to park x number of cars in each space; There is a colour car park - I used the coloured disks from the colour matching peg game and put velcro on the back - now they can serve a dual purpose; And at the top right corner you might be able to make out a fire station with parking spaces big, medium and small for Goblin's fire engines. 


For other ideas on how to use cardboard boxes, possibly for slightly older kids, I found this great link. 
http://sunhatswellieboots.blogspot.com/p/when-is-box-not-box.html