Dramatic Play: The Story of a Cardboard Box

The Story of a Cardboard Box

Cardboard box play ideas

The story begins.

A doorway…it opens…it shuts…

Cardboard box play ideas

A window…

Cardboard box play ideas
Another window…
Or maybe a peephole…or a letterbox…

The story continues in the imagination and play of a little girl.

Young children are easily enthralled by the limitless potential of a simple cardboard box but why is this type of dramatic or pretend play important to a young child’s development? Isn’t it just fun? Don’t they just play?

4 Reasons to Encourage Dramatic Play

  • Dramatic play allows the child to imitate reality in terms of their own understanding and knowledge of their world and their own interests within it – imagine a child delivering a leaf through a hole in a box as mail in a postbox.
  • Through this symbolic representation of their world the child tests and reinforces what they know and understand the world to be.
  • Role playing is a wonderful way for children to increase their awareness of how it feels to be someone else. Large box play often involves imaginative play involving assuming a role – the postman, the mummy, the driver, etc.
  • Role playing may be carried out alone, but becomes further enhanced by verbal communication and interaction with others within the play.

The story of a cardboard box is a rich narrative indeed.

2 Comments

  1. Having seen Immy playing with her cardboard house you wonder why we spend so much on manufactured toys – she delighted in saying boo out the window and every time she went in she made sure she shut the door behind her. She had so much fun on her own, but even more interacting with the adults in her life as they got caught up in her play.

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