Love and Learn Books: Cardboard Box Monsters

Books are a pretty awesome learning tool for homeschoolers. Whether you’ve got a large collection of books in your home or you’re a regular at your local library, books are likely a big part of your homeschooling way of life. In this Love and Learn Books series of articles, we’ll share an array of engaging non-fiction books that you can get great ideas just for the articles, or you may discover a gem that will be just right for your home library.

Creative Learning

Your kids express themselves creatively through a variety of methods:

• Telling stories (of real events or imagined situations)
• Acting with dramatic flair (even when they are not meaning to be dramatic)
• Drawing or painting (sometimes on inappropriate surfaces)
• Modeling with clay or Play-Doh (and sculpting the solar system)
• Building with Lego (and being creative as THEY pick up EVERY LAST PIECE off the floor, out of the houseplants, off the kitchen counters, off the furniture . . .)
• Creating a plethora of things with paper and cardboard (and many assorted accessories)
• This list could go on for many more bullets, but that last point is where we’ll stop for this article.

Because the book we’re getting activities from is an Usborne Activities book, 365 Things to Do with Paper and Cardboard by Fiona Watt, these ideas don’t require loads of different art and craft supplies and actually encourage using items destined for recycling or garbage! There are 365 ‘things’ in this book, but we’ll just cover a few of the things here. This book is a great resource for creative expression at any age (even adults can find some fun and challenging activities). The best thing is that you can just hand this book to the kids for an art project they can choose on their own.

With 365 options, even a child reluctant to partake in ‘arts and crafts time’ will pick something and get creative with it. After you discover all the possibilities with materials that you wouldn’t normally gather for a hands-on art experience, the kids will be making sock monkeys, box monsters, cardboard cities or foil birds whenever the materials present themselves.

Using Cardboard for Creative Fun

In some way or another, most homes have cardboard available, and kids just seem to get creative with it without any encouragement. You can use any size of box or cardboard pieces to create these mouthy monsters (or funky friends for a creative alternative). Using the inside of the box gives you a clean and fresh canvas for your creation.

1. Carefully pull apart all the joints of the cardboard box to turn inside out.
2. Glue or tape the openings of the ‘inside out’ box so the plain cardboard is on the outside.
3. Cut out a pair of lips from a scrap of cardboard and glue it onto the box. Fill in the middle with a felt tip pen. Draw eyes on the box and add other features to give your box some personality:
   • Cut teeth from paper and glue them inside the lips. You could make them rounded or pointed.
   • Cut two arms from cardboard. Fold back the ends and glue them on the sides of the box.
   • Cut out two ears. Fold back the ends to make tabs and glue them onto the sides of the box.
   • Make two triangular prism legs out of cardboard and glue them to the bottom of the box.
   • Or just cut two feet from cardboard. Have two little (or big) feet sticking out, glued to the bottom of the box.
   • Add some more personality however you can imagine it!

Check Out the Book

Want more information about the book this activity came from? Watch this YouTube video that shows a flip-through. Read more information about 365 Things to Do With Paper and Cardboard and learn how you can buy it to have an excellent resource for creative inspiration in your home.

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