Boxes

This year I was inspired by the good fortune of having three huge boxes left over from the furniture for the new classrooms to create a team-building sort of curriculum for our students. First, I brought the boxes into our room during story time. Then I read a book that described the many imaginative uses a little girl puts a box to. Then I divided the class into three teams and told them that when they reached a decision as to what they were going to do with their box, they could start playing. I wanted to see what kinds of negotiating skills the children had. I was happily surprised by how quickly they were willing to compromise in order to get started playing.
The boxes became a spaceship, a clubhouse and a castle. They asked for markers so that they could decorate them, and when they were finished, they played with them for several days, until the boxes gave out and the custodian recycled them.