Boxes!

I love boxes. They are the best toy since silly putty or maybe Mr. Potato Head...

Your imagination is your only limit when you have a box! I recently did a 'It's Not a Box' theme for storytime. I believe in pretend play (no pun intended!).

For this storytime, I made a bunch of different things out of boxes- cool Nike tennis shoes out of matching Kleenex boxes, a doghouse, a stove and refrigerator, a carwash, a barn, a sword and shield...

Cathy G., a library assistant here, rocked these boxes!!!

I talked to my LLFs about different things you can  make with a box and your imagination. We read Thank You Bear by Greg E. Foley, Not a Box by Antoinette Portis, Harry's Box by Angela McAllister and A Box Can Be Many Things by Dana Rau.

We did an action rhyme, Jack in the Box:

Jack in the box
Stay so still
Won't you come out?
Yes, I will! (jump up!)

I had a box filled with items that either made a noise or I could make a noise to give my LLFs a clue as to what it was. So, I had a bell, a cat, a bird whistle, a dog, etc. and we said this rhyme-What's inside the box today, box today, box today? What's inside the box today? It must be a ------(make noise and let them guess)
They all drove through the car wash (HUGE fridge box) with bubbles.
Finally, they got a chance to play with everything!

I often ask our local Home Depot for appliance boxes and I have used them for photo standees - like for our How to Train a Dragon Program.

Made it into a bean bag toss game-like at out Fall Frolic.







Made it into a life-size flannelboard -like for our Scarecrow Storytime. And much more!