DIY Crafts with Cardboard

As your child ages, you may feel pressure from peers, companies, and brands to buy new, age-appropriate toys for every occasion. You are likely to find many aesthetically pleasing, Montessori- style activities being advertised to promote growth and stimulate learning.  From the perspective of a pediatric occupational therapist, we would like to tell you that developmentally appropriate play is not something that needs to be bought. At least not directly! Here at APT Nashville, we have been using cardboard boxes to address a variety of play skills for patients of all ages. We have found that these box activities and creations have made the play even more rewarding- as the patients are all too proud to play with the ‘new’ toys that they made themselves! Here are just a few of the important skills that these crafts can help work on: 

2- 4 Years 

• Imaginative play skills 
• Gross motor and coordination skills to crawl, jump, manipulate 
• Pre-writing and writing skills to copy and imitate shapes and letters to fit the theme 
• Joint play to share and turn-take 

4-8 Years 

• Scissor and fine motor skills to cut and glue construction paper decorations 
• Pre-writing and writing skills to copy and imitate shapes and letters to fit the theme 
• Visual motor and grasp skills to paint 

 12 Years

• Planning and organization skills to sequence craft steps 
• Creative thinking to conceptualize ideas 

If you’re not feeling particularly crafty or creative- there are dozens of other blog posts and Pinterest pages out there with ideas for cardboard activities! SO, go on out there and recycle those cardboard boxes in the garage to get started! 

Olivia Lucas, Occupational Therapist, Nashville, TN