Books to Inspire: What To Do With a Box
The cardboard box can be used for so much more than packing, moving, posting, organising. This book ‘What To Do with a Box’ pays homage to the magic of the cardboard box. The children in the story are given a box and guess what happens next? They open it, climb into it, lock it with a magical key, invite toy friends inside and travel to new places. The beautiful illustrations in the picture book show the adventures from the child’s perspective imagining a cardboard box as anything but that.
The ability to imagine is necessary for the development of thinking skills, emotions, the creation of arts and the very cultural fabric of societies. Imagination is what makes us human. As Ken Robinson suggests, to imagine something that isn’t present or has never been is a unique human power. (Robinson, 2014).
Now teachers, imagine the possibilities of using the Makedo construction system of tools in your classroom TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR STUDENTS TO CREATE WHAT THEY HAVE IMAGINED by cutting, connecting and making with cardboard boxes. This book is a perfect prompt to get students excited about imagining what a cardboard box could be.
Ken Robinson, The Power of Imagination. 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QQ_h5lHOBk
Cover Image from 'What to Do With A Box, by Jane Yolen © 2016 Creative Editions; reproduced courtesy of The Creative Company.