Parents have long been baffled by the strange phenomenon of giving their kids nice gifts, only to see them playing with the box the prize came in rather than the toy itself.
Well, I still have enough kid in me that I can remember what was so cool about playing with big cardboard boxes. You could make absolutely anything out of them! Your imagination was the limit. And they didn't require assembly! Perhaps a bit of cutting here and there was needed to create just the right structures.
What a kid would do with a box depended largely on its size. A box just big enough to sit in would be, of course, sat in. But that was only the beginning. Sitting in a box might mean driving a race car, or flying a jet, or motoring a tank over the hills. Or, it might just be a good place to crash while watching TV.
Bigger boxes would make good forts. Perhaps a door would be cut in in one side so you could crawl in, and maybe a smaller slit carved for firing one's weapons at the enemy.
And smaller boxes were also quite desirable to youngsters. G.I. Joe could sit in a miniature box in the same manner that his owner would do so. In fact, I remember my own G.I. Joe using the very box he came in for various wartime exploits.
Bot a box just a bit bigger could be made into Joe's own fort. What was bonzer about that was that a passing airplane could drop a bomb on the structure and blow the hapless soldier to kingdom come.
Indeed, we kids could be quite sadistic with the plastic warrior. Sometimes the aftermath of such an explosion would involve removing a limb or two for effect as we recreated the horrors of war in our bedrooms. The arms would pop right back on, of course.
Then there were the garage-sized boxes. You would cut windows and a door big enough for a Tonka vehicle to pull inside. Fun stuff.
Playing with boxes is one of those memories we Boomer kids share with all other generations. Medieval children probably had their own version of boxes to have imaginative fun with. And the photo to the right shows that children who experienced the 2006 tsunami took advantage of boxes used to deliver essentials for survival to help them forget what had just happened.
It was fun watching my own kids play with the boxes that their toys came in, and I look forward to watching my grandkids do the same.
Fortunately, some things never change.
Comments (4)
This brings back some good times! The best boxes were the large wons that you could fit in and play all day. A recent Spongebob Squarepants episode also brought this to mind.
As a youth worker in later years, I've carried over my love of playing in boxes. At Halloween parties I made a tunnel out of boxes which the kids had to crawl through to get to the fun. Even some of the adults joined in! Once, I made an excellent (I thought) castle using the same principle. The kids tore it up in about 5 seconds, after I spent a whole day making it! Live and learn, best to keep it simple.
Posted by Mike Burleson | October 8, 2007 6:30 AM
Posted on October 8, 2007 06:30
Open them up and slide down the stairs. Real wooden stairs with a nice shiny finish
Posted by David Chapman | June 13, 2009 9:09 AM
Posted on June 13, 2009 09:09
Kids like building things and using creativity. Enabling them to fully exploit this desire is beneficial. Boxes were lots of fun and always will be. Arts and crafts were always great in school. There should be lots of craft type stuff at home.
But my brother and I always loved really big boxes like a refrigerator or the like. Those were super fun as were tents and blanket tents outside, and forts and tree houses, snow forts and tunnels, too. Its great when parents join in as they can add a little more creativity that kids can learn and expand from.
I think kids are capable of far more than we giver them credit for or allow them to grow toward or engage in. kids really like a very stimulating environment which schools clearly are not!!! For those who care about the Bible, God commands parents to teach their kids, not someone or something else.
I recall most activities without my parents but I would have preferred it with them. Kids learn from parents, often informally, by doing things together and kids observing, even when we aren’t aware. Many of our best toys were pretty much free, or cheap and often unmanufactured. We found stuff at the dump often. And 2nd hand stores had many of the old cool toys making their 2nd time around.
AS we move toward a more obvious 2nd great depression, knowing that good fun need not cost much is important. It is interacting with those you like or love that is most important.
Posted by Scott Irv | June 14, 2009 4:27 PM
Posted on June 14, 2009 16:27
No...Can't say we played with gift boxes. Probably because Santa always had our toys un wrapped or in boxes, but just out under the tree. Only clothing really came in boxes that came from the relatives. And of course us kids would rather get a GI Joe rather then a pair of double knit pants? But we did like the large boxes that large appliances came in. We lived on a hill and would get into these boxes and slide or tumble down the hill. We had great fun doing that.
Posted by Rivers End | October 11, 2009 10:27 PM
Posted on October 11, 2009 22:27