When it comes to decorating, markers, paint, stickers, and colored paper can all help transform the project. There is no right or wrong way to use a box. The important thing is kids become the architects. Children begin to develop problem-solving skills as they use their imaginations to come up with new possibilities and discover new ways to create. There are no boundaries to the things they can imagine and they build confidence and a sense of accomplishment as they create their design from start to finish. They strengthen cognitive flexibility, finding solutions to problems, and improving the design as they go along. Having these daily opportunities to use their imaginations lays the groundwork for lifelong, creative, and divergent thinking.
Big projects are fun—everyone wants to crawl through a cardboard maze or drop a letter in a big blue cardboard mailbox. Small projects can be exciting too. You can use cereal boxes to recreate your neighborhood, or toilet paper rolls and tin foil to build a telescope and talk about constellations.