PRESSED BETWEEN THE PAGES
DeAnn (Wolkow) Kruempel
The Stories Inside a Box
It’s a car! It’s a train! It’s a house! It’s super-box! Typical of the times, nothing was wasted, not even corrugated or cardboard containers. Mom saved shipping boxes and grocery store carrying-cartons that eventually became a warming place for a new-born lamb, a crate for baby chicks, or a flattened stay-out-of-the-dirt shop mat. Farms needed boxes.
As kids, we were required to ask permission to use a box, but Mom always found one we could have. The right cuts through a big appliance crate allowed for a door that opened and closed. Windows and a sun roof completed our temporary backyard playhouse. Even the barn cats came in for a visit.
Box projects knew only the limits of our imagination. Or did our imagination stretch to fit the box? A flattened box broke Olympic tobogganing records down a snow-packed hill. Delmer and Don built sheds for their toy tractors. Shoe boxes made perfect doll beds for my sisters’ “babies.” I recall making a cardboard stove. I drew around cans to make burners on the upside-down box. Three straight cuts at right angles on the front allowed for an oven door. A couple rolls of masking tape secured a piece of cardboard inside, making an oven shelf.
The right box and a little imagination provided the Goldilocks experience for a child—just right. A cigar box made the best pencil holder ever. One of Dad’s boot boxes housed my rock collection. The miniature boulders became tables, chairs and beds for my smallest dolls.
A few of Mom’s fabric scraps embellished the lovely little home. A shoe box set on its side in its cover housed every plastic farm animal ever made. Cards cut into strips and glued together formed fences respected by chickens and horses alike. Jar lids served as water tanks. I don’t remember needing to clean the barn. Possibly the animals were trained to use the outhouse.
It often baffles me how parents in those days seemed to know what was good for their children. They never took child development classes. No child psychology books were shelved next to our encyclopedias, but folks understood that kids needed to imagine and create and play.
They also knew the best raw materials for such purposes. Boxes opened up possibilities.
Today researchers view cardboard boxes as toys that foster creativity and cognitive
development. A plain box can be a blank canvas for a child’s mind. The ability to imagine is a critical milestone in human development. Children imagine a box as a house, car or spaceship, forging the ability to turn ideas into reality.
Building with boxes encourages youngsters to manipulate their environment. The safe enclosed space may inspire self-directed play. When we can entertain ourselves for long periods, we learn to focus. Possibly the greatest benefit of this type of play is that children (and parents) learn that valuable, mind-building experiences do not require expensive tools.
Yet, research also indicates that for the first time in over a hundred years our youngest generation is scoring lower, on the average, than their parents in literacy, math and logic.
Studies show recent drops in memory, attention and overall IQ.
“How come?” I ask. What do you think?
I think maybe children nowadays need lots more boxes to play with!
The author’s column appears in a growing number of Midwest newspapers. Kruempel compiles and publishes the column stories every year. She has also published a historical fiction series, “Promises to Keep.” Her ten books are available on Amazon. Signed copies may be purchased at the Harrison County Welcome Center. Contact Kruempel at deannkruempelauthor@gmail.com.
