ZOOM OFF TO THE MOON WITH A BOX ROCKET *UPDATED* (Creative Play in General)

Member Name: chrissypops

Product:	Creative Play in General
Date:	06/10/01 (277 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Provides hours and hours of fun, Your children learn a great deal about playing

Disadvantages: Can be a bit messy but thats part of the fun ;-)

Its Christmas, or even any other time of the year. You have just brought a lovely toy for your child to play with and all they are interested in doing is playing with the box. What can a piece of cardboard, whatever shape or size can a child possibly find more interesting then a toy? Well to a baby or child it can be used in so many ways. A tunnel, a house, a peek a boo box, storage, a train, the list goes on. Even with the unique imagination a child has, you don't even have to decorate or make the box look like anything But just for your benefit you could spend one of those wintry, rainy days having fun with a few boxes, paint and sticky, icky, messy stuff.

If for some reason your mind goes completely blank when it comes to doing anything like this, the best person to ask for ideas is your partner in crime. Yep, your son or daughter. This gives them the chance to involve themselves in this exciting activity, you can both make something in which both of you will get hours of enjoyment out if it and keep coming up with bigger and better ideas.

My 3 ½ year old daughter Jessica came up with these following ideas, so if you have any queries please send them to Jessica>swarbyville1@yahoo.com. Any emails will be answers personally but I cant vouch for her typing skills. Most of these ideas you can use from the age of 2 years and up unless stated.


1..... Make a kitchen item ( Washing machine, Cooker, Tumble dryer, whatever takes your fancy)

All you need

A box ( any size, all depending if its for child size or toy size)
A roll of turkey tin foil/ or paint
An egg box or empty film cartons.
Paper plates
Cellotape
A craft or sharp knife.
Old news paper to lay on floor

Before your toddler gets hold of the box, take it outside or on a sturdy surface, choose a side and score a door in. Bear in mind the door should be like a proper door in that it is still hinged at one side so you
can open and close it. Cellotape the whole box up so the only way you can get in is via the door. If you are doing a washing machine or tumble you could have a go and try doing a circular door and if an oven, microwave have a square door. You could do it any shape you like really but the simple shapes are easier to score out

Now you and your child have a choice. You could either cover your appliance with tin foil or you could paint it whatever colour you like. Choice is yours. If you paint it, make sure you have plenty of paper down and an have an apron on your child. You can always have a bath after painting and this gives chance for the paint to dry too.

Now is where you add detail. You could just draw on your detail with a marker pen but its much more fun if you stick them on. We used empty film containers for the knobs on my daughters cooker and used paper plates on top for the hob. We even painted a few paper plates with food. You could of course use old bits of material, sweet wrappers, anything you can get your hands on. You could use anything as knobs, egg cartons are a good one too. I used old film cartons as she could turn them around. I did this by marking were I wanted the knobs to be and then made a hole with a pencil and made it large enough to fit the film cartons in.

You can dress you kitchen appliance up or down and add as much or as little detail as you like. I used several big boxes and Jess has got a cooker, a fridge and a washing machine in her room. I wonder why she spends so much time up there.......

2 .....Spaceship or Rocket.

All you need.

A large tall box
Kitchen foil
Cellotape
Paint
Old news paper to lay on floor.
A empty cereal box
Glue

Making a rocket is a little easier. Again take one side and score a hole big enough for your child to get in and out of. Again make a hinged door but this time bend it back inside so you have a control pan
el. Cellotape the box up again so you only have the hole to get in and out of. You could either paint or cover you box in tin foil. Use the empty cereal box to make two wings and again either paint them or cover them in tin foil. For the control panel inside you could stick on sweet wrappers, egg cartons, anything to make it look flashy, and futuristic. You can even do the same on the outside and use old chop sticks wrapped in tin foil for an aerial. Chuck some cushions for your child to sit on and .................. Blast off and you have a great space ship

3..... Car/ Train

All you need

One box for a car, two boxes for a train one slightly smaller than other.
Cellotape
Paint
Maker pen
Glue

For a car just paint the box whichever colour your child would like a leave to dry. You can use the tops side where all the flaps are as the top. Score open down each side so you have two hinged doors either side, but don't make the doors as big as the sides as the box with fall apart. You can use the flaps in several ways. The one at the front you could pull down inside and use it as the dashboard or you could stand up and stick some tin foil on to make it like the windscreen. The flaps on the side which should still be attached to the doors, you could stick some foil on to make them into mirrors. Marker pen or stick bits onto the inner flap to make it a dash board and put a few cushions in. Wow, you child has her own Peugeot 205

For the train its basically the same only you glue the smaller box in front of the bigger box and follow the instructions above to the bigger box. Don't forget to put train detail on and you could use a toilet roll inner tube with some cotton wool coming out as the chimney and steam. Thomas Tank eat your heart out.


4 ....Shop/ Dolls house

All you need
A box
Glue
Paint
Cellotape
Craft knife

For either the shop or the dolls h
ouse take all 4 flaps off by scoring them but DON'T throw then away, you will need them. These will become shelves in your shop or floors in house. Decide how many floors or shelves you want and paint the boxes and the flaps with the desired colour. After paint has dried mark on the outside where you want to put the shelves/floors. If you want to be really accurate them use a ruler but it doesn't matter if they are not level. Take the craft knife and score a cut alone this lines. Make sure your shelves fit in the slots. They should just fit in but you can glue them into place. You can now add you detail by drawing in with your marker or sticking on bits to make it a dolls house or shop. These shelves don't hold a lot of weight so you might find after a few goes they might collapse but that doesn't matter. Its the fun that goes into making it that counts. Perhaps someone should of told Arkright about that when he opened his shop in Open all hours eh?

5 ......Junk modeling.

A section of small boxes
Toilet roll holders
Glue
Glitter
Paint
Old news paper to lay down
Anything else children love sticking together

This is the most simplest art and craft out. Just lay all what you have gathered out on old newspaper and let you child's imagination run wild with painting them, gluing them and decorating them. If by the end of the day you have too many models , give them to granny, she'll love them !

6. ...Gift/ Storage boxes

Shoe boxes or any box/carton with a lid
Glitter
Sand ( child safe play sand)
Food colouring
Wrapping paper
Paint
Kitchen towel
Old newspaper

If you want to use different coloured sand in any idea and not just this one the answer is simple........... colour it. Just take some sand a pop it into an old bowl, add a few drops of food colouring and give it a good mix about. and empty out onto kitchen roll. Its best to do this a fe
w hours before just to let the colour dry into the sand. This idea of sand painting also works very well if you want to create those vases/bottles with different coloured sands or shells. Makes lovely simple Christmas presents

Just get each box and you can paint, stick, glue, anything to it to make it not look like a box. All depending on size you can use it to store small toys in your children bedroom, your paper work, even gift boxes for Christmas presents! You don't have to stick to boxes either. If you have any old milk formula containers, Slim Fast containers or even gravy containers, you can wrap wrapping paper around it and use it to keep those annoying little bits from toys in.

7 ....Peep A Boo box/Tunnel( Ideal from 9 months )
All you need

A box
Paint
Glue
Anything to stick onto it

This should of gone at the top really but never mind. Undo both ends of the box and paint or decorate the box in the way your child wants and let it dry. You could stick on the inside a variety of things which will interest the child is they crawl through. Simplistic idea eh? But I bet it will be the one which will keep your young child occupied for hours!

8 ......Jack O lanterns for Halloween/ Stain glass windows.

A small box
Glue
Glitter
coloured plastic cellophane or sweet wrappers
String

Score all four sizes of the box and pop them out so they look like windows. Make sure you leave about 2 cm gap all around or otherwise you'll have nothing to glue your coloured sheets to. Paint the boxes black for best effect but any color will do. If you are using cellophane just use the piece you cut out as a guide but make sure its about 1 cm bigger all around. Just stick these inside each window . If you are using sweet wrappers, glue them side by side until you fill each window ( can take a while but its still fun) Make four small holes on each corner at the top of the box. This is f
or your string so you can hang it up. Just take a length of string about a metre long and cut it into four equal pieces. Simple thread and tie each string to box and then try all four together at the top. Hang somewhere where the light can shine through it so it looks like its a light inside. If you want to do stain glass windows you can cut out shapes and stick them in the middle of the cellothane For christamas stained glass windows you can add a little cotton wool around the bottom so it looks like its snow and glue some glitter around the box.

If you dont fancy any of the above and you just want to keep your child quiet, try this.
Get a empty matchbox or a small box and ask your child to see how many things they can fit in it. You'll be very surprised what they find !

There are so many ideas you can have with a box and although some of these do sound a little hard work, its worth it. You can start from as young as nine months and although your child wont have the dexterity to help you, the light in her eyes that shows she's excited by what she sees as you show her, is incredible. The earlier you expose your children to this sort of creativity, then the earlier they will develop not just in imagination( Creativity), but in Math's, ( shapes and colours), Language and Communication skills ( telling you what they would like to do) Knowledge and Understanding of the World( Discovering different textures, colours and materials). Fine and large motor skills ( holding a paint brush or pen, getting in and out from the car or train)


This is the basis of how a child begins to learn about the world we live in and how to explore, create and enjoy playing. All the items I have used in making these items are all found in your own home. It is worth while going to a hobby store and getting some stuff like feathers, glitters, sequins and paint. I use my old birthday cards and cut out the pictures so my daughter can use them. I
use old tags from birthday or Christmas presents or gift wrapping paper. So now you know why children hold a fascination for boxes. With a toy it has limits, especially now where most toys are plastic and do everything for your child. It can only be used for what its designed to do. With a box, its only your child's imagination which limits the play and most kids imagination is limitless.

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