Thinking Outside Of And About The Box

"Boxes are awesome!"

That's what my 7-year-old said to me today after an artful day at Evanston's Green Living Festival.

When I probed a little more and asked her why she thought boxes were awesome, she replied with: "You can make things with them like a house and a train and a reading nook!"

We had just spent over an hour at Open Studio Project's Art Village station where children were given free reign to create whatever they wanted out of a wide array of empty cardboard boxes.  Paint, paintbrushes, and tape were also provided.

This was art heaven for my daughter.

She loves to create and build and paint and play pretend.  This was right up her alley. 

She immediately began her search for the 'right kind of boxes'.  She already had an idea what she wanted to build.  A doll house.


She found an old cracker box that she wanted to transform into a bed.  An old toilet paper roll became a pillow.  She decided to use a cardboard cylinder as a night stand.  And she found a cup that she thought was perfect as a lampshade. 


Her vision started taking form before my very eyes.  She even decided to create a tv stand complete with a compartment for dvds and some dvds - all out of cardboard!

She had so much fun and she beamed with pride each time she showed someone her creation!

Later, as we were walking back to our car (my arms full with her doll house) we passed by what was dubbed "Pop-Up Adventure Playground." It was a make-shift playground made entirely from cardboard boxes!

Children had made houses and castles and forts out of refrigerator boxes!

How cool!

All of this 'box art' got me thinking about school and how children need more time for free play and unstructured free time to create and build and play pretend. 

These days, Kindergarten and even pre-school students are being exposed to so much more academic activities than in the 'old school' days.  There's a lot of pressure on teachers to teach these little guys how to read and write and do math, that free time gets pushed to the wayside.


Don't get me wrong, I do see the value in teaching children reading and writing and math.  But I also see the value in free play.  Unstructured free time is not wasted time like many administrators seem to think.  It is valuable time!  Children make sense of their daily lives through play.  They learn through play.  They test and refine and practice different skills as they build and create and design.

Can you picture a childhood without the experience of playing with a box, transforming it into something else from imagination?  Sure, that child will grow up and be okay.  But is that what we want?  For children to be 'just okay'?!


It's bad enough that children these days spend so much time passively watching tv or playing on electronic devices. What more if they are never given opportunities to create and build and play pretend?!

So, even if it means my home becomes a little more messy and cluttered, I will continue to let my girls play and create with boxes.

Life is short; I want my girls to enjoy it and to be as creative and artistic as they need to be!