Cardboard Recycles
Friday, February 27th, 2015From Friday Mom – Erin:
As I may have mentioned before, I am a huge Amazon Prime shopper. Sure, sometimes that limits the available options, but being able to buy things cheaply AND have them arrive at my house in 48 hours or less makes it a no brainer. Plus, avoiding spending time out shopping means more time spent with my family.
What this also means is a high volume of cardboard boxes at our house each week. Sometimes we reuse them to send our own packages, and other times we simply put them out for recycling. Recently, however, Rory and I have found a new way to recycle: building out of boxes.
Equipped with a pair of scissors and Rory’s crayons, our boxes become whatever we can imagine. Last fall, I made Rory a firetruck out of a fairly flat box. Sure, it was basically a fire truck caricature, but he gleefully donned his fireman a had and climbed on in. We only recently took it out to the curb with the other boxes; it was that big of a hit.
During last week’s snow day, I made Rory a “laptop” computer out of a box flap. He was bent out of shape that his daddy had to take work calls from home, so I made him his own computer so that he could send emails, just like daddy. We helped him type emails on its little keyboard, and he folded it closed when we finished.
Finally, over the weekend, I fashioned Rory a banjo out of a paper plate and some more box flaps. Now Rory and I play “gicktah” (guitar) together– he turns his popper toy turned upside down while I use the banjo. During yesterday’s snow delay, we had a good old fashioned jam session, with renditions of favorites such as old McDonald, BINGO, and Baa Baa Black sheep. The cardboard is growing weak from all the use it has received over the past few days.
Rory has a playroom full of toys that we purchased or he was given as gifts, but he always gets so excited by the novelty of our cardboard creations. He loves the new opportunity to pretend, and I love knowing that I am combatting his boredom AND showing him the value of creativity. Plus, a cardboard banjo and imaginary guitar are MUCH quieter than their real life counterparts. Thank goodness.