Have you ever thought of all the wonderful uses for
a box? Multiply this by several other boxes and a
bit of imagination, tape and glue and you can
create exciting games, craft, activities and useful
items from boxes.
Ask your local grocery, fruit or electrical store to
save boxes and cartons of all shapes and sizes for
you. When flaps of boxes are joined together the
result is a building unit with infinite possibilities.
Create real or imagined animals, robots, cubby
houses, vehicles, a maze.
Pile boxes up, suspend them, scatter them across
the play area.
Explore the effects of sunlight and shadow.
Explore the hollow spaces of empty boxes, each
Joey Scout selects a space and creates something
to go into or around it. (Some suggestions:
crumpled foil, model something, insert cellophane,
tissue paper or crumpled newspaper, branches or
flowers in the boxes.)
Cut patterns of holes in the base of the box.
Overlay it with cellophane or tissue paper and
stand it against a sun lit window. The box could
also be painted inside and filled with some pieces
of crumpled foil, cellophane, tissue and wire. Cut
an observation hole in one side and other holes in
another side to let in controlled amounts of light.
Paint the inside of a box white and suspend
shapes so that their shadows can be seen under
different light conditions.
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Activities
Try these activities with your Joey Scouts.
Box tracks
In this activity the flaps of the boxes are taped
securely together to form a hinge that creates a
flip-flop module like a bulldozer track.
Collect 15 boxes around the same size for each 5
or 6 Joey Scouts. Tape bottoms securely shut.
Line boxes up side by side and join flaps together.
Now join the first and last box together. This will
form a circle of boxes.
Joey Scouts stand with one foot in each box, while
holding other boxes over their head. They then
walk from box to box and rotate empty boxes
forward over their heads.
This chain of boxes could also become a train.
Change them into other shapes or creations.
When finished store for later use.
Square dress
How about square costumes for dress up or play
acting activities. Boxes can become cars, birds,
boats, robots, fish, or animals. Make sure there is
plenty of room for these activities.
Cut a hole in box for head and arms (long skinny
boxes are ideal for this), decorate as clothing or
character and slide over Joey Scout.
HEADS: Make eye holes, slot for ears, and paint
on a face.
CARS: Can be made by cutting a hole in two sides
of a long box to stand through. Attach shoulder
straps to help hold it up and add lights, wheels,
paint and go on a rally or trip.
Invite a visitor to explain to Joey Scouts how
boxes are made. And how boxes can be recycled.
Large electrical cartons create great excitement.
Have you ever thought of using some of these to
create the atmosphere for Going Up Ceremonies?
Much more exciting than rope bridges.
Join several large cartons together to form a
tunnel. Decorate inside and out with balloons,
fringing – nothing too scary to spoil the meaning of
the ceremony. Enter from the world of Australian
Bush and emerge into the Land of the Jungle. Ask
your Cub Scout Leaders to help put it together.
Send your Joey Scout off by ship, aeroplane, car
or through a maze of boxes. They will remember
their Going Up for years to come.
Dioramas
A miniature scene constructed inside a box. The
scene is viewed through a window, but from one
side of your box. Paint or paper the inside to
create a background. Items such as figures, trees,
houses can be made and attached to the top or
suspended from the floor to create a scene.
Example – The Sea: Make scene and cover front
of box with blue cellophane. Cut a slit in top of
box, suspend puppet and move along the slit.
Games with boxes
Obstacle course
Build an obstacle course with different size boxes.
Joey Scouts go over, under, through and around.
Odds and evens
2 dice per team. Form two teams, “odds” and
“evens”. Mark a line and stand side by side 10
steps back from line. In turns throw the dice. If
“odds” throw 3,5,7,9,11 all team members take a
step. If “evens” throw 4,6,8,10,12 they all take a
step forward. If “odds” throw an even or “evens”
throw an odd, nobody moves. If either team
throws a 2 (snakes eyes) the team moves back a
step. Continue until one team crosses the line.
Make a dice from square boxes. Paint with acrylic
paint before adding the dots. On a traditional die
the numbers on opposite faces always add up to 7.
The die could also be of plain coloured side to help
reinforce colours. To throw oversized dice clear
the area, on the count of three, toss.
Collect the boxes
Lots of boxes to be collected for this activity. Two
die per team. Divide into two teams. Joey Scouts
in turn toss the dice. When a team rolls a 7 or a
double it gets a box from the pile. If they throw 11
they forfeit a box to the other team. See how
many boxes you have at the end of the game.
Feel box
Use a shoe box. Cut a round hole in the lid big
enough to put a hand through. Cut the foot off an
old footy sock and attach through the hole in the
lid. Decorate the outside of bottom and lid
separately so that lid can be removed for easy
loading and quick change of objects inside.
Promise and Law
Write the words of the Promise and Law (one per
box) inside the boxes. If working in teams you will
need a complete Promise and Law per group.
Boxes all in one area. In relay form Joey Scouts
run to pile, pick up box, look at word inside and if in
correct order of Promise and Law, place that box in
line at other end of den, return and next player has
turn. If not the next word they replace the box in
the pile, return to the team and next player tries.
Continue until all completed.
Craft
Boxes of all shapes and sizes can be used to
make interesting things. Make Christmas trees
from milk cartons, tooth fairy houses from
matchboxes, toys from 1 and 2 litre milk and juice
cartons, planters from 1 and 2 litre cartons. Make
a puppet theatre.
Gift boxes
Matchboxes. Remove tray from sleeve of
matchbox. Cover the sleeve and ends of tray with
paper or decoration. Draw large picture of animal
head, bird, cat, reindeer etc. on piece of paper.
Make neck same width as end of box. Glue shape
to cardboard then to side of box. Turn box on side
for reindeer or animal. Attach small tab to tray to
pull out.
Tooth Fairy house
Decorate sleeve of matchbox like a house. Glue
cardboard piece to one side to form roof. Line the
tray with cotton wool. The tooth is placed in
padded tray for the tooth fairy.
Tissue box soccer
Save empty tissue boxes. Parents will help with
this. Joey Scouts place a foot in each box and
dribble a newspaper soccer ball.
Wakadoodle game
Make the game by cutting out the two patterns to
make dice. One with numbers, the other with
doodles of different types of lines on each side.
You can play on your own or with a group.
The first player tosses the dice and then has to
draw whatever the dice show. For example, if one
dice shows circles and the other shows “5”, then
that player will draw 5 circles. They can be any
size and can touch each other or be separate.
The next player tosses the dice and adds whatever
sort of lines the dice show. Each player has a turn
to toss the dice and try to turn the doodle into
something. Play ends when the group thinks the
doodle is finished.
A cube puzzle
Nine boxes of similar size, paint, brushes, pencils.
Seal all nine boxes. Assemble flush against each
other in rows of three. Draw a large picture on the
combined surface of the nine boxes – flower, face,
house, geometric design, etc. Colour, paint, glue
or whatever the design. Roll boxes in lines of
three to a clean side. Decorate this side, roll again
and continue until all surfaces are covered.
Jumble all boxes and rearrange to form the original
pictures.
Spiders
Paint a matchbox, poke pipe cleaners through the
sides for legs, glue or draw on eyes.
Desk set
Three or four small boxes of various
sizes, or milk cartons cut to size.
Glue boxes together,
with taller ones to the
back. Cover with
lots of small pieces
of coloured paper.
When dry paint
with two or
three coats of
clear varnish.
Try making
each box look
different.
Wall tidy
Stiff cardboard, small boxes, coloured paper,
string, glue, scissors.
Large square or triangle of stiff cardboard, covered
with coloured paper. Punch holes in centre top for
string to hang up. Cut top flaps from small boxes
and cover and decorate. Glue to backing board so
that they can be used to hold notes, pencils, odds
and ends.
Sleepy sheep
Try making a sleepy sheep from milk carton or
shoe box. Cut the carton to size and wrap in white
paper. Cut strips
of white paper
and curl with
scissors before
gluing onto
carton. Glue
strips along
edges on top and
add some spirals.
Draw a sleepy
face on one end of box.
Irish whirligig
Paint box green. (If paint does not stick to box,
add a little soap to the paint.) Paint two white
shamrocks on opposite sides of the box. On other
sides paint a circle larger than the shamrocks,
centering it so that each circle matches the other.
When dry open flaps of box to work inside. Punch
hole in top and bottom of box. Draw rubber band
through bottom hole. To hold it in place, pull green
and white streamers through band. Straighten out
a paper clip, leaving both large and small loops.
Push small end of paper clip through top hole from
inside. Fasten other end of band over hook and
close flaps. Link another paper clip to top loop.
Wind up by twisting the box. As it whirls, the
shamrock appears to be in the circle.
Shoe box cat is simple enough for the smallest
fingers. Cover a shoe box with plain paper, paint
on the spots or stripes. Cut a curling tail of paper
and cut legs from a different shade of paper or
paint an outline on them so that they will show up.
Draw a smiley face with pointed ears, wide eyes
and neat whiskers to finish.
Christmas tree from milk cartons. 19 milk
cartons, cardboard, paint,
glue. Cut milk cartons
according to diagram. Place
six cartons in a circle,
bottoms to the centre. Cut
circle of cardboard large
enough to glue the cartons on
to and small enough not to be
seen. Glue cartons
onto circle of card.
Repeat the process for
next layers using five
cartons, four cartons
then three each with a card circle between them.
Stand the last carton on top with points upwards.
Paint green and decorate with glitter and
ornaments.
Storage boxes
Cover strong boxes for storing games and craft
equipment in the den. Joey Scouts will love to
help glue on pictures.
Boxes appeared in the May 1997 issue Australian
Scout. Compiled by Enid Cole; contributors were
Enid Cole, Joan Burchill, Paula Krueger, and
Cecily Leaver.