A big cardboard box is already one of the best toys going. Hand a child some pens and let them draw on the inside of it and you add a surprise: the enclosed cardboard turns every scribble into a loud, scratchy, echoey sound. It is part den, part drawing, and part a first lesson in listening to the noises that everyday actions make. Ages 2 to 4.
What you need
- A large cardboard box, big enough for a child to climb into or sit under. A box from a big delivery is perfect.
- Pens, crayons, or chalk. Anything that makes a mark on cardboard.
How it plays
Open the box out, or lay it on its side, so a child can get inside or tuck underneath it, and let them draw on the walls. The first thing they notice is the sound. A pen dragged across cardboard is scratchy at the best of times, but inside a box the sound bounces around and gets louder, so every line and scribble comes with its own noise. Children quickly start experimenting: scribbling fast and slow, tapping the pen, pressing hard and soft, just to hear how the sound changes.
Underneath all the noise, this is good mark-making practice. Drawing on a big vertical or overhead surface uses the whole arm and shoulder, the big movements that come before careful little marks, and doing it in an enclosed space adds a cozy, focused quality that paper on a table does not have. It is mark-making and sound exploration rolled into one, with a den thrown in.
To keep it going, try different tools and surfaces: a chunky crayon sounds different from a felt tip, and tapping the box like a drum is a natural next step. When the drawing is done, the box still has plenty of life left in it as a car, a boat, or a hiding place.
For more mark-making, our chalk mark making on a dark tray lets the colors pop on a black surface, and our spider writing tray brings early marks into a themed tray.