When you purchase anything in a large box, it's always a given that the kids will want to play with that giant box, right?
Well, after days and days of play in and on the box, my kids were starting to lose interest in the box and I was ready to add it to our recycling pile. But four year old K was bored and was looking for something to do, so I handed him some crayons and told him to start coloring his box.
I did not anticipate how much he would enjoy my spur of the moment idea. Turns out this cardboard box and crayons boredom buster process art idea was the perfect way for him to spend hours creating and playing.
It's also a wonderful calm down idea for kids with anxiety and/or autism because it provides a quiet small space for kids to squish into. Plus, coloring is a great stress relieving activity.
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Boredom Buster for Kids: Color Your Own Cardboard Box Art Fort!
For this activity, you'll need:
- A cardboard box large enough to sit inside
- Crayons
Another reason why I love this activity is that it encourages kids to draw and color on vertical surfaces, which obviously feels entirely different than writing on a horizontal surface.
Anyway, four year old K spent hours just creating inside this box. He even drew some elevator buttons on one of the flaps and engaged in some imaginative play, pretending to go up and down to various floors. Especially since he could open and close his "elevator doors" by closing the flaps of the cardboard box.
K ended up spending most of his time drawing happy faces on the cardboard box and drew a lovely picture of our family in crayon. I forget who is who in this portrait, but we're all totally cute. I love his happy face drawings!
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