Thinking "Inside" the Box

 

 

     Last week, we read some new books in Preschool and tried a few new activities. One day we read the book Press Here by Herve Tullet and did a number of activities with just a few packs of Dollar Tree dot stickers. You can find all of the activities on my blog post about the book from last year. We also read the book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds about a child who learns to have confidence in her abilities to draw if she just starts. Using some white dots, we asked the children to draw a picture starting with the dot. We got some beautiful colorful pictures that the children were really proud of. My favorite of the new books by far, however, was Not A Box by Antoinette Portis. This is a simply drawn book about a cardboard box that is NOT box.

 

 I provided 10 cardboard boxes of various sizes. The only rules were that the largest box needed to be shared with anyone who wanted to get inside of it. After all, it was a perfect place for hide and seek. Also they couldn't dump all the other classroom toys into the boxes. Otherwise, they could use their imaginations and whatever supplies we had on hand in the classroom to make them into whatever they wanted.

 

They used crayons, markers, magazines and tape (lots of tape). This kept the entire group quiet for a full 15 minutes as they turned the boxes into new creations. What did they make?

It's a place to hide in or....

a place to hide under!

It's a hat!

It's a race car!

It's a baby bath!

They are bumper cars! Um...okay.

It's a lego holder. Clearly someone did not hear the rules!

We offered the children the opportunity to draw pictures like the ones in the book but only a couple of the girls took us up on the offer.

 

It's a girl using a stack of boxes to climb up the mountain! Why, yes, it is!

 

Each child was allowed to take home a box if they wanted to. Everyone wanted to and no one really cared which box they took. As they got into their cars after school with A BOX most parents said something along the lines of  "Oh, I see you have a box!" and the answer was "No, it's a ____________." One wise parent asked "What did you make?" The answer, "It's a Not A Box!" Of course!