I collect empty boxes. They are great for sticking bits of stuff to. And painting. No end of fun can be had with clagging some scraps of fabric to the side of a Nutri-Grain (“Daddy Cereal”) box. Lolly enjoys pasting and painting them too….. Hey. How did you THINK I spent my day when I said I was working hard?
Henyway, so I collect all these empty boxes. Sometimes we use them here at home. But more often than not, I “donate” them to Lolly’s kindy or occasional care centre. Painstakingly making sure I’ve removed hazards (like the serrated teeth on the cling wrap boxes and so forth). Ensuring I don’t collect soy milk containers or egg cartons or anything else that may ignite an awful food allergy reaction.
Then I bundle them in the car, with the LGBB sitting amongst them like she’s built a box city, and I take them with us to her occasional care day. The relief of getting them out of the house is quite surprising. I love getting rid of them, it feels good to both be useful and recycle them AND get my kitchen and cupboards clear once I’ve done a clean-out from the build-up. I feel like I’ve really achieved something! Two-fold! I’m a superhero of house cleaning! *hands on hips HO-HO!*
Then, when I go and pick the LGBB up, she always, always, ALWAYS tells me excitedly, “I did some painting!” or “I did some sticking!” or some other such crafty way with some sort of adhesive.
Annnnnnd…. you know what I’m going to say, don’t you? I bundle her back in the car with, guaranteed, at least 50% if not all of those damn sky-scraper sized boxes back again at the end of the day, now adorned with half-dry paint and glue and bits of glitter n’ shit falling off in my car so I have to carefully stack them and cart them all back home. And THEN display them around the house for days so we can all rejoice in their glory and splendour.
Ah, the joys. I have to laugh. *sob* And then do a resigned face like this:
(this one’s for you, Sparkl-o-Matic)
ahhh the vicious cycle LOL But honestly, it is SO good you take the time to do it. I bet she is super proud to walk in with those boxes (and walk out with them LOL)
And don't kids LOVE feeling like they've contributed in the classroom too. So cute.
I have to say I am *ahem* anti-craft. I cringe every time I look in Audrey's bag to see what she has collected today from the forest or what not. Most of it ends up in the bin. I am a bad, bad mummy!
I do keep some stuff, however you have just reminded me to clean out her box that holds all the wonders of the past two years at school and the previous years of kindy. Ugh! I need more family to offload this crap onto. LOL
LOL, I hear ya. My youngest is a crappy crafty girl (her words, not mine.) I just tell myself that the recycleables are lucky to get a day trip out of it all. Out of the house, into the car, off to kindy, back in the car, into the green bin. Win win win!
LOL! Love it!
We call Nutrigrain "Daddy cereal" too.
And, coming from a teacher perspective, it's great to get boxes and meat trays for art/craft. With the meat trays you can do some great relief printing by drawing into the polystyrene with a blunt pencil AND the meat trays can also be used as paint trays!!
Boxes are great for construction a la Play School style. There must be wheels though – lids from milk bottles are good as are empty thread reels. Yoghurt pots are good for paint. Toilet rolls are fab but some schools wont accept them for health reasons. I accept them – I give them a good spray with Glen 20 and a good airing in the sun in a string bag.
I love having a construction session and sending it home with kids again. I love standing at the door and watching the looks on mums' and ads' faces when they see what their child is dragging home LMAO
Ohhhhh Karelle you LEGEND! Thanks for these, some good tips there I'll have to remember to try out