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A Gem of a Find....Boxes!

I was stopped dead in my tracks while prancing down the street the other day. There, in front of my eyes, was a most wonderful sight. A gigantic pile of cardboard boxes. Empty. Beautiful. All shapes and sizes. Unmarked. Not dog eared. Clean. Unscathed. And, free- as in available to use ( it happened to be in front of my friend's store as they unpacked their holiday shipment) and as in no cost ( always appealing to preschool teachers!). So, piled high on my arms, I left with many many many boxes to bring to school.

My mind swirling with ideas. Boxes....what can we do with boxes? Or rather what can't we do with boxes? Or what can boxes do?

Sure I had thoughts. Decorating. Puppets. Art work. Building. But I was interested what the children would do with them. Getting better each day at leaving my own visions to rest on the sidelines, I put the boxes out on the carpet without direction or words. Oh yes,  beside the boxes were a few rolls of masking tape.

A couple of children wandered over. Two children began to work together, one holding the tape roll while the other tried to tear off a piece of tape. Then more children came over. Soon, there was a focused frenzy ( yes, this IS possible) and soon there was tape, markers, chalk, crayons, glue sticks and scissors. The scissors were a game changer. First they were used to cut tape, then used to stab the boxes. I watched carefully. Very carefully indeed. We do not usually use scissors in this capacity and of course I started to wonder the question we must all wonder-is this safe? And, I decided ( and the other staff) that yes indeed it was safe. Children were being careful, in fact VERY careful. I loved that we could allow them to use this tool in a new way.

What came out of the boxes was absolutely wonderful. It became more than just the art work, the building, the creative use of the boxes. What emerged was this beautiful team of children, working together in a balanced, energetic and cohesive manner. There was a collective energy in the room. Children shared their knowledge, helped each other achieve their visions, offered advice to one another. Really it was so magical that I could not even take notes. I watched in admiration.






These holes became very important. Emma wanted to make caterpillars to go in and out of them, which provoked many others to want to do the same. In one of our recent visits to the farm we encountered many caterpillars (around 30 actually) and we grew quite fond of them. Is this Emma's way of processing these lovely creatures? Paying them homage through art perhaps?






















Interestingly and not surprisingly,  children soon were wanting to own the box, even though we talked about sharing them as a class. They invested time and energy into the box and wanted to bring it home. At first I wanted them to leave them at school but then we decided they could bring it home, use it over the weekend and then bring it back.  Would they remember to bring it back? Would they become too possessive of it to bring it back?

Well, this morning, most boxes were returned, shared and used again in new and interesting ways. Let's see what happens on Wednesday!

Emily



Comments

Alexis said…
Thanks Emily for sharing!! We have had tons of fun with cardboard boxes as well. They were homes, communities were built, passwords created...we poked holes too, and I added glowsticks in the holes.

My thinking is "Who needs toys when you have a box?"
4 November 2013 at 20:15
WRCC said…
Glowsticks..cool idea!
5 November 2013 at 13:32
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