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25 Creative Ways to use a Cardboard Box

December 21, 2013 by Anna Ranson

Here are 25 creative ways to re-use and recycle a cardboard box into something fun to play and create with! From story boxes to puppet shows, treasure chests to car play mats, bunches of painted flowers to baby toys and preschooler maths games, there’s plenty of variety to choose from in this list!

25 things to make and do with a cardboard box

At this time of year there is always a huge load of excess packaging, mainly including cardboard boxes and lots of wrapping paper rolls! Before you throw them all away, here are 25 things you can turn them into together for play, learning and art activities at home or in the classroom. There are ideas for maths games, art and crafts, story telling, fine motor skills, early literacy prompts, musical instruments, gross motor activities, science and discovery and imaginative play. Pin your favourites from each individual post for future reference! Click the link to read each one:

Jack and the Beanstalk Box

Jack and the Beanstalk Box

Red Riding Hood Storytelling Box

little+red+riding+hood+story+box

Duck Pond Story and Singing Box

Duck pond story box

Castle for storytelling and small world play

Cardboard box castle

Post Box

Cardboard box post box

Homemade Baby and Toddler toys4+homemade+baby+and+toddler+toys+large

Maths Machine for counting and addition

adding+machine

Baby sensory crawl through tunnel

Baby crawl through sensory tunnel

Material pulling box for babies

Baby play material box

Birthday Tree Tradition

Birthday Tree

Cardboard Flowers

Cardboard-flowers-craft-666x1000

Small world play with blocks in a boxcardboard+box+town+small+world+play

Cereal Box House

Cereal box house

Cardboard tubes discovery box

Discovery Box tubes, tape and beans

Town and roads play mat

Town in a box play mat

Rain Stick Instrument

DIY-rainstick-tutorial-680x876

Glow in the dark caveGlow in the dark cave

Counting and Sorting box

lid+sort+and+count+box

Pirate Treasure Box

Pirate treasure box

Make a giant abacus

Playing-with-a-giant-abacus-666x1000

Egg Carton Measuring Game

measuring+objects+with+egg+cartons

Rolling down ramps discovery box

Ramps and chutes discovery box

Egg box colour sorting

egg+box+and+chips

Train tracks in a box

train-tracks-small-world-play-title-680x453

Fibre Optic Sensory Cave

Fibre optic sensory cave

See all our other Play Collections like this one, on many different topics here.

25 creative things to make with a cardboard box!

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Filed Under: Age, Baby, cardboard box, Cardboard Tube, Craft, Create, Make, Preschooler, Recycled Crafts, School Age, Toddler, Toys & Games, Upcycling Tagged With: Cardboard Box, Play Collection

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Comments

  1. Jennifer Morley says

    December 22, 2013 at 6:06 am

    Another reminder that cardboard truly is the best and most versatile play thing. Thanks for all the imaginative ideas.

  2. Amy @ Wildflower Ramblings says

    December 22, 2013 at 12:34 pm

    Wow, Anna, this list is incredible!! What amazing play ideas!!

  3. Anna says

    December 25, 2013 at 2:21 am

    I loooove these ideas! Great how these crafts can be used for various ages! I love the differen concepts that can be learned too! Amazing! 🙂

  4. Penny says

    January 2, 2014 at 10:30 am

    Some really wonderful ideas! Thank you! I think it’s great to be creative with something that you would normally disregard and throw away without realizing the opportunities. I wrote a similar piece on alternative uses for toilet paper tubes that you might like – although I will have to add your rain stick idea in next time http://www.greensteve.com/3958/9-alternative-uses-for-toilet-paper-tubes/ Enjoy 🙂

  5. sonia amorim says

    February 18, 2014 at 6:01 pm

    SOU FÃ DO TRABALHO APRESENTADO. ESPERO QUE CONTINUE COM TANTAS IDÉIAS CRIATIVAS POIS AJUDAM MUITO. PARABÉNS!

Trackbacks

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    January 9, 2014 at 11:49 am

    […] του 2014, ξεκινάω τη χρονιά με θέμα…τα χαρτόκουτα και 25 διαφορετικούς τρόπους που μπορείτε να χρησιμοποιήσετε π.χ. τα κουτιά των […]

  2. Cardboard Boxes - 25 Creative Ways to Use them | Babyglitter says:
    January 9, 2014 at 12:22 pm

    […] help make 2014 more creative, I begin the year with a post on…cardboard boxes and 25 different creative ways you can make use of for example all those gift boxes from the […]

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About The Imagination Tree Hello and welcome! I'm Anna, Mama of 4, early years teacher and play enthusiast from the UK! Click here to read more about me.

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