4 Tips for Extreme Box Decorating

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Let’s turn box decorating up a notch!

Please tell me I am not the only one with an Amazon Prime addiction. Or the only one who sees their mailman more than their best friends. Or who should probably buy stock in cardboard boxes because we are drowning in them.

It’s probably because I had three babies in a 40-month span and getting in and out of the car isn’t my favorite part of each day. Either way, I’m a Prime addict and we are swimming in Amazon boxes.

I know that giving a kid a cardboard box to decorate is a toddler activity as old as time.

But I like to spice it up a little bit (this isn’t your mother’s box decorating – ha!) and I’ve got 4 tips to go from just coloring a box to extreme box decorating.

1. Go big or go home with art supplies

Instead of just setting out a few crayons, I set out pretty much every art supply I own (you can see that list here) and let my kids go nuts.

Why not just stick with crayons?

Because this is extreme box decorating and we are taking things up a notch here.

Here’s what I set out for my kids:

• Construction paper shapes (this is the biggest supply and I’ll explain why in tip 2)
• Glue sticks
• Do-A-Dots
• Crayons
• Markers
• Stickers

2. Get some glue & shapes in on the action

I like to start this activity by cutting out tons and tons of shapes from construction paper. This doesn’t take long – a minute or two tops. A lot of squares, rectangles, triangles, and a few oddly shaped circles.

This gives my kids something to glue onto the boxes and let’s their imaginations go wild. They turn those shapes into buttons, switches, knobs and gears. It’s a make-believe gold mine!

3. Tape up the sides

I tape the sides of the box together to give them more height and more stability.

With the sides tapes up, my kids can get in and out of the boxes easier and nothing’s folding in on them. It’s super easy to do and a nice touch.

4. Just keep playing….just keep playing

This is a little like Dory and swimming. Just keep playing…just keep playing. The boxes in these pictures? My kids have been working on them for months.

MONTHS.

Why? How? Because I save them! When they finished playing today, we put all the shapes and stickers back into the boxes and threw them back out into the garage (I mean stacked them nicely…).

About once a week. I grab the boxes – supplies still inside them – add a few glue sticks, crayons and markers and BOOM instant toddler activity.

Hello twenty minutes of toddler happy play time.

This isn’t just grab a box, here’s some broken crayons, now play.

This extreme box decorating is a legitimate toddler activity and having the right supplies, the cut out shapes, and boxes full of life saves my sanity.

And my kids love to tinker on them! These boxes are three months old and they still have lots of decorating life left in them. Today, they were train cars. Last week, they were rocket ships. You never know where a cardboard box will take you.

When I add these silly shapes and extra supplies, my kids will decorate and play for way longer than just with crayons in a box.

Next time your online shopping boxes arrive, save them for a rainy day and for months to come. You won’t regret giving up a little garage space for these extreme boxes.

Will you try decorating some extreme boxes at your house?