Looking to think creatively? Grab a cardboard box and see what you can turn it into. Nothing gets people thinking outside the box like cardboard boxes!
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How Cardboard Boxes Will Make You More Creative
What You'll Find on This Page
The ability to think creatively is one of the most useful skills we can develop in our modern, highly automated world! Creative thinking is required for problem solving, and creative activities have been shown to make us happier.
The beauty of creativity, is that you can get creative with just about anything. I find that cardboard boxes trigger particularly high levels of creativity! Since the box is usually free courtesy of some delivery, the stress of “wasting” materials is removed. This makes starting off with a cardboard box is a fantastic way to promote out of the box thinking!
Getting Creative with Cardboard Boxes
My kids LOVE to turn the boxes that come in the mail into new creations! I hand over our pipsqueak markers (love those, because they wash out of EVERYTHING!) The kids use fiskars kids’ scissors to cut the cardboard most of the time, and I help out with an X-Acto knife if they need details.
Boxes transform instantly into vehicles. Besides the car featured above, my kids make trains, planes, and space ships. Add some LED lights for space shuttle dashboards and more! I highly encourage parents to play with cardboard alongside their children. If you are looking for inspiration, this cardboard train from ikatbag is spectacular!
I love watching my children turn a cardboard box into something new. Ten-year-old Emma built this stable for her Playmobil horses. The stall gates even slide open!
A very simple project can inspire hours of pretend play. This very simple computer that Emma built using a cardboard shoebox is much less involved than her horse stable, but that fact didn’t stop the kids from incorporating it into a three-hour pretend play game.
More Fun Cardboard Projects for Kids
Are you looking for more cardboard inspiration? My Cardboard Pinterest Board is full of ideas; here are a few favorites. I stuck with the simplest ideas for this feature; easy cardboard projects anyone can make!
- Make a Cardboard laptop with interchangeable screens.
- Build a Cardboard washer/dryer so your kids can wash their doll’s clothing.
- Get the kids painting on Cardboard canvas.
- Create a Cardboard dollhouse.
- Let your kids drive their cars along a Cardboard road.
Do you have a favorite creative cardboard project? Please share a link in the comments, on my Facebook page, or send it to me on Instagram!
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
When my kids were younger, they LOVED to use cardboard boxes to make things. This is such a great way to get creative!
When my kids were little, I would make cars or rocket ships out of cardboard boxes. My kids would play on them for days. It was my secret get through a rainy day toy!
I’ve used that trick as well :D
The last time we got a huge box, the kids absconded with it and turned it into a rocket ship. They then came downstairs and had to tell us all about it.
That is fantastic.
I love how you pointed out that since you didn’t have to purchase the box, you have no guilt using it for creative pursuits. You do such a great job of removing barriers – both overt and covert – to connecting via creativity.
Thanks, Elisa! I know I feel a higher level of creative freedom when I am upcycling something that was otherwise destined for recycling or even landfill.
I always enjoy seeing creative projects from your kids! They are so much fun!
It is really fun to watch their creative process.