Have you ever thought of all the wonderful uses for a box? Multiply this by several other boxes and a bit of imagination, tape and glue and you can create exciting games, craft, activities and useful items from boxes.
Ask your local grocery, fruit or electrical store to save boxes and cartons of all shapes and sizes for you. When flaps of boxes are joined together the result is a building unit with infinite possibilities.
Create real or imagined animals, robots, cubby houses, vehicles, a maze.
Pile boxes up, suspend them, scatter them across the play area.
Explore the effects of sunlight and shadow.
Explore the hollow spaces of empty boxes, each
Joey Scout selects a space and creates something to go into or around it. (Some suggestions: crumpled foil, model something, insert cellophane, tissue paper or crumpled newspaper, branches or flowers in the boxes.)
Cut patterns of holes in the base of the box. Overlay it with cellophane or tissue paper and stand it against a sun lit window. The box could also be painted inside and filled with some pieces of crumpled foil, cellophane, tissue and wire. Cut an observation hole in one side and other holes in another side to let in controlled amounts of light.
Paint the inside of a box white and suspend shapes so that their shadows can be seen under different light conditions.
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Activities
Try these activities with your Joey Scouts.
Box tracks
In this activity the flaps of the boxes are taped securely together to form a hinge that creates a flip-flop module like a bulldozer track.
Collect 15 boxes around the same size for each 5 or 6 Joey Scouts. Tape bottoms securely shut. Line boxes up side by side and join flaps together. Now join the first and last box together. This will form a circle of boxes.
Joey Scouts stand with one foot in each box, while holding other boxes over their head. They then
walk from box to box and rotate empty boxes forward over their heads.
This chain of boxes could also become a train. Change them into other shapes or creations. When finished store for later use.
Square dress
How about square costumes for dress up or play acting activities. Boxes can become cars, birds, boats, robots, fish, or animals. Make sure there is plenty of room for these activities.
Cut a hole in box for head and arms (long skinny boxes are ideal for this), decorate as clothing or character and slide over Joey Scout.
HEADS: Make eye holes, slot for ears, and paint on a face.
CARS: Can be made by cutting a hole in two sides of a long box to stand through. Attach shoulder straps to help hold it up and add lights, wheels, paint and go on a rally or trip.
Dioramas
A miniature scene constructed inside a box. The scene is viewed through a window, but from one side of your box. Paint or paper the inside to create a background. Items such as figures, trees, houses can be made and attached to the top or suspended from the floor to create a scene. Example – The Sea: Make scene and cover front of box with blue cellophane. Cut a slit in top of box, suspend puppet and move along the slit. Invite a visitor to explain to Joey Scouts how boxes are made. And how boxes can be recycled.
Large electrical cartons create great excitement. Have you ever thought of using some of these to create the atmosphere for Going Up Ceremonies? Much more exciting than rope bridges.
Join several large cartons together to form a tunnel. Decorate inside and out with balloons, fringing – nothing too scary to spoil the meaning of the ceremony. Enter from the world of Australian Bush and emerge into the Land of the Jungle. Ask your Cub Scout Leaders to help put it together.
Send your Joey Scout off by ship, aeroplane, car or through a maze of boxes. They will remember their Going Up for years to come.
Games with boxes
Obstacle course
Build an obstacle course with different size boxes. Joey Scouts go over, under, through and around.
Odds and evens
2 dice per team. Form two teams, “odds” and “evens”. Mark a line and stand side by side 10 steps back from line. In turns throw the dice. If “odds” throw 3,5,7,9,11 all team members take a step. If “evens” throw 4,6,8,10,12 they all take a step forward. If “odds” throw an even or “evens” throw an odd, nobody moves. If either team throws a 2 (snakes eyes) the team moves back a step. Continue until one team crosses the line.
Make a dice from square boxes. Paint with acrylic paint before adding the dots. On a traditional die the numbers on opposite faces always add up to 7. The die could also be of plain coloured side to help reinforce colours. To throw oversized dice clear the area, on the count of three, toss.
Collect the boxes
Lots of boxes to be collected for this activity. Two die per team. Divide into two teams. Joey Scouts in turn toss the dice. When a team rolls a 7 or a double it gets a box from the pile. If they throw 11 they forfeit a box to the other team. See how many boxes you have at the end of the game.
Feel box
Use a shoe box. Cut a round hole in the lid big enough to put a hand through. Cut the foot off an old footy sock and attach through the hole in the lid. Decorate the outside of bottom and lid separately so that lid can be removed for easy loading and quick change of objects inside.
Promise and Law
Write the words of the Promise and Law (one per box) inside the boxes. If working in teams you will need a complete Promise and Law per group. Boxes all in one area. In relay form Joey Scouts run to pile, pick up box, look at word inside and if in correct order of Promise and Law, place that box in line at other end of den, return and next player has turn. If not the next word they replace the box in the pile, return to the team and next player tries. Continue until all completed.
Tissue box soccer
Save empty tissue boxes. Parents will help with this. Joey Scouts place a foot in each box and dribble a newspaper soccer ball.
Wakadoodle game
Make the game by cutting out the two patterns to make dice. One with numbers, the other with doodles of different types of lines on each side. You can play on your own or with a group.
The first player tosses the dice and then has to draw whatever the dice show. For example, if one dice shows circles and the other shows “5”, then that player will draw 5 circles. They can be any size and can touch each other or be separate.
The next player tosses the dice and adds whatever sort of lines the dice show. Each player has a turn to toss the dice and try to turn the doodle into something. Play ends when the group thinks the doodle is finished.
Craft
Boxes of all shapes and sizes can be used to make interesting things. Make Christmas trees from milk cartons, tooth fairy houses from matchboxes, toys from 1 and 2 litre milk and juice cartons, planters from 1 and 2 litre cartons. Make a puppet theatre.
Gift boxes
Matchboxes. Remove tray from sleeve of matchbox. Cover the sleeve and ends of tray with paper or decoration. Draw large picture of animal head, bird, cat, reindeer etc. on piece of paper. Make neck same width as end of box. Glue shape to cardboard then to side of box. Turn box on side for reindeer or animal. Attach small tab to tray to pull out.
Tooth Fairy house
Decorate sleeve of matchbox like a house. Glue cardboard piece to one side to form roof. Line the tray with cotton wool. The tooth is placed in padded tray for the tooth fairy.
A cube puzzle
Nine boxes of similar size, paint, brushes, pencils. Seal all nine boxes. Assemble flush against each other in rows of three. Draw a large picture on the combined surface of the nine boxes – flower, face, house, geometric design, etc. Colour, paint, glue or whatever the design. Roll boxes in lines of three to a clean side. Decorate this side, roll again and continue until all surfaces are covered. Jumble all boxes and rearrange to form the original pictures.
Spiders
Paint a matchbox, poke pipe cleaners through the sides for legs, glue or draw on eyes.
Desk set
Three or four small boxes of various sizes, or milk cartons cut to size. Glue boxes together, with taller ones to the back. Cover with lots of small pieces of coloured paper. When dry paint with two or three coats of clear varnish. Try making each box look different.
Wall tidy
Stiff cardboard, small boxes, coloured paper, string, glue, scissors.
Large square or triangle of stiff cardboard, covered with coloured paper. Punch holes in centre top for string to hang up. Cut top flaps from small boxes and cover and decorate. Glue to backing board so that they can be used to hold notes, pencils, odds and ends.
Shoe box cat is simple enough for the smallest fingers. Cover a shoe box with plain paper, paint on the spots or stripes. Cut a curling tail of paper and cut legs from a different shade of paper or paint an outline on them so that they will show up. Draw a smiley face with pointed ears, wide eyes and neat whiskers to finish.
Storage boxes
Cover strong boxes for storing games and craft equipment in the den. Joey Scouts will love to help glue on pictures.
Sleepy sheep
Try making a sleepy sheep from milk carton or shoe box. Cut the carton to size and wrap in white paper. Cut strips of white paper and curl with scissors before gluing onto carton. Glue strips along edges on top and add some spirals. Draw a sleepy face on one end of box.
Irish whirligig
Paint box green. (If paint does not stick to box, add a little soap to the paint.) Paint two white shamrocks on opposite sides of the box. On other sides paint a circle larger than the shamrocks, centering it so that each circle matches the other. When dry open flaps of box to work inside. Punch hole in top and bottom of box. Draw rubber band through bottom hole. To hold it in place, pull green and white streamers through band. Straighten out a paper clip, leaving both large and small loops. Push small end of paper clip through top hole from inside. Fasten other end of band over hook and close flaps. Link another paper clip to top loop. Wind up by twisting the box. As it whirls, the shamrock appears to be in the circle.
Christmas tree from milk cartons. 19 milk cartons, cardboard, paint, glue. Cut milk cartons according to diagram. Place six cartons in a circle, bottoms to the centre. Cut circle of cardboard large enough to glue the cartons on to and small enough not to be seen. Glue cartons onto circle of card. Repeat the process for next layers using five cartons, four cartons then three each with a card circle between them. Stand the last carton on top with points upwards. Paint green and decorate with glitter and ornaments.
Boxes appeared in the May 1997 issue Australian Scout. Compiled by Enid Cole; contributors were Enid Cole, Joan Burchill, Paula Krueger, and Cecily Leaver.