Cardboard Box Town

How many boxes do you have at your house right now? We almost always have a few that need to be recycled and admittedly sometimes I let them linger by the backdoor instead of breaking them down. Not my best quality, but I’m also not sure I have the desire to change that anytime soon.

Thankfully, that means you get a stellar idea of how to use those extra boxes! This activity can be SUPER simple, or you can get more involved. The first few times I prepared this activity, it was “boring” to me, but the kids absolutely loved it. This takes just a few minutes to set up and can be pretty hands off after that. Perfect for when you need to get something done and want the kids in one spot.

Here’s what you need

• Cardboard box. Mine usually come with free 2 day shipping, but there are some great boxes and inserts from our dry grocery delivery service as well. You can even use kraft paper if you don’t leave your boxes sitting in the house for a few days before recycling them like I do.

• Markers/crayons/pencil. I like markers best here, but I’ve done everything with a standard pencil before and it was still a hit.

• Animals/cars/flowers/puzzle pieces. Any toys can work here depending on how creative you want to be. This animal set includes polar bears and penguins and is weirdly loved in our house. This vehicle puzzle is great for pretend play because the pieces stand up on their own- my 5 year old still uses it regularly.

Update 8/6/22 Digital download available in the store. This is perfect if you don’t have the time or talent to draw your city OR want to reuse some of the pieces over and over again. I like to laminate mine using this machine- great to get repeated use out of the same items.

Set up

5-20 minutes. Part of this activity can be the setup if your kids are interested. Sometimes I find a few extra minutes spent involving them in the setup gives me extra time of engagement, which is worth it to me. We spent about 10 minutes designing our town this time.

1. Break down your cardboard box.

2. Have the kids (you can do this step if they are too young) gather people, vehicles, or animals.

3. Draw a road and some attractions in your town. I like to include a parking lot, stop signs, a park, a zoo, and sometimes a grocery store or school.

Clean up

2 minutes

1. Recycle the box if you still can, otherwise throw it away.

2. Put away toys. I usually help here, but ask the kids to take care of a certain number of items. I definitely find value in helping when there are a lot of miscellaneous toys because then the go in the correct spot and the kids are more likely to stay engaged the next time.

I think the setup on this is part of the fun for the kids. I’ve done this before and drawn the whole thing myself and other times I’ve included them by asking what we should put in our town. This time I asked them to color the water and grass after they requested it. Involving them in the setup helps keep them occupied longer and they can formulate a plan for their pretend play.

You do not need to be an artist to execute this activity. Hear me when I say this: I AM A TERRIBLE ARTIST! It doesn’t matter that I can only draw stick people with highly questionable hair. It doesn’t matter that my rendering of a slide is difficult to discern to anyone other than my kids. The kids LOVED this! (Peep my grocery store shelves if you need a laugh today.)

Sometimes they play with this for only a few minutes at a time, but ask to keep it available for several days. This time they played for an entire hour, but were ok with getting rid of it later the same day. I got time to make dinner in peace, so I felt great about it.

I asked them to find some people, animals, and vehicles and asked what we should include in our town. This time we included an airport, river, doctor, grocery store, a park, zoo, school, train, and vet office. I give suggestions to include some of the pieces as needed, but they had a great idea of “planting flowers” at the park! They even like to make the people swing and go down the slide, which I find incredibly adorable.

Parking lots and stop signs are always winners in this pretend town. They have also been fascinated by train stations lately, so we included one. Sometimes I make highway ramps, sometimes we use stickers or expand the grocery store with pretend food. Other times we have included magnetic tiles to make cages for the animals. Let your imagination and theirs run wild here!

This is a great activity to set up and then stand back. Letting your kids take the lead on pretend play is magical and takes the pressure off of you to entertain them. I definitely jump in when I can, but honestly I’m not always available. Trying to balance work and running the household is hectic to say the least. Investing a few minutes upfront helps fill their attention bucket and allows me to get things done if needed.

What will you include in your town? Comment below or tag me on social if you use a box for this activity.

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