5 easy ways to use a cardboard box in play
Cardboard boxes are a great open ended resource that can be easily sourced and are usually free of charge. Children often love exploring an empty cardboard box and will spend hours using their imagination.
Here are 5 easy ways to adapt a cardboard box in play
Role play setting
Large cardboard boxes make a great setting for role play. They can be used to create structures including houses, castles, boats or den. This can support the children’s imaginative play and be adapted to fit a range of scenarios or ideas. The children can enjoy helping to decorate the box and think of ways to create their chosen structure. This activity also supports children to problem solve and work as a team towards a common goal.
Hopscotch
Hopscotch is a fun game that can support counting skills alongside physical development. Most of the time hopscotch happens outside where practitioners can chalk the ground to create a hopscotch grid, however using a cardboard box can allow this to also happen inside. Simply cut the box down each corner to create a plus sign. The practitioner can then draw the grid on the flat cardboard and allow the children to play hopscotch. The children can help the practitioner to decorate the grid using coloured pens or paint. Once the children have finished playing, the cardboard can be folded up and put away to be used again.
Sensory boxes
Cardboard boxes provide an enclosed space that can support children in developing their other senses. Smaller boxes can be used to create some great sensory boxes filled with a range of materials such as pasta, rice and pine cones. The practitioner can fill the boxes, cut a hole in the top and cover it slightly with some material. The children can then take it in turns to put their hand in each box and guess whats inside. This activity can also be adapted for different topics, using related objects or materials inside.
Obstacle course
Cardboard boxes are great for children to develop their physical skills, crawling through, under and over boxes. These boxes can be used to recreate a fun obstacle course for the children where they need to manoeuvre around and through a range of different sized boxes. To adapt this activity you can create a superhero scenario around the obstacle course using lots of different obstacles, a superhero cape and a doll, explaining that the children to need to move through the course to save the baby.
Small world area
Cardboard boxes can become interesting small world areas that children can explore alone or with a friend. They offer an enclosed space that children can use to rein act their experiences or ideas using small world people or animals. You can use small shoe boxes or larger boxes cutting the side down so the children can comfortably reach the bottom of the box. Different environments can be painted on the bottom and the sides of the box, such as a race track for the cars, a dinosaur land or a house. Small bits of furniture or materials can be added to enhance the small world area.
Can you recreate any of these ideas using a spare cardboard box?