Is it a toy or a box?

For years, I have been telling my invention focused daughter, Jala, that we should package a cardboard box for kids. She can't quite grasp the concept of selling a cardboard box. 

A cardboard box is simply the most beloved, used, and creative toy generations of children have experienced. Other toys have their heyday. Some are created around movie or TV merchandise, but quickly fade into the background. Some toys come back into favor, like Teenage Mutant Turtles. Some toys are forever classics, like Barbie. But most toys have a window of time to be popular, fly off the store shelf and then end up on a Goodwill shelf amongst all the other forgotten and broken toys.

My friend offered me an empty dishwasher delivery box. She thought my grandchildren might like to play with it. That was several years ago and the box has served as a barn for the rocking cow (yes, it is just like a rocking horse but it is a cow), a secret clubhouse, a princess castle and the perfect place for a tea party. All with no help from me except to hand out crayons and markers and make cookies and chocolate milk for tea parties.

The big box welcomes children of all ages as soon as they spy it. The rocking cow comes out of the barn and cheerfully rides them to the castle wall. They jump off the cow to enter the castle halls, giggling. Sometimes they just sit there for awhile and breathe in the cardboard smell. The accepted practice is to leave their mark upon the castle. It may be a picture or a squiggle, a letter or even their full name should they be able. But the box is a hallowed space that every child honors with their presence. 

The cardboard box is such a childhood favorite that it was inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame in 2005. Parents spend too much time trying to find a toy that will hold their child's attention, especially in these tech savvy times. A child can program our phones and tablets. But put a plain cardboard box in front of them, and imagine the possibilities. The imagineering would inspire Walt Disney himself! A blank slate if you will, easily bending to the whims and desires of a child. That is something money can't buy. Today's toys are set up to discourage imagination with pre-formulated designs. Baby dolls that cry, wet, eat, talk. Legos that have a blueprint. But a box? No pre-conceptions of what it could be, should do or will become. Now that's a catalyst for imagination!

I haven't given up on boxing up a box. I might have to include stickers, cardboard fins for the trips to Mars, or add a bag of hay for the cow (or horse) in the barn. I don't think it would take long, though, for those items to be discarded in favor of a crayon and a creative 3 year old mind.