How many people are my family feel the full weight of recession, so most aggressively marketed toys and game consoles are definitely out of the shopping list for you! However, when I was clearing out some old boxes from my office a few weeks ago I was reminded of the old cliché: that the children get more pleasure out of the package as a gift. I decided to put the theory to the test, and I think the results are worth it, together with otherParents.
Precautions
First off, I know that many people read the opening paragraph above and ask me if I hugged a tree, I am anti-commercial Luddite, I want to assure you that this is not the case! Like many parents, I sometimes find it hard to do activities to beat for my children and I probably more often with the use of TV as I should. This article is simply a little gem that worked for me and hopefully others will benefit. It is also worthNote that, at the age of my children: My daughter is 4, and her little brother is 2
The Pitch
Armed with plenty of old, torn cardboard, scissors buried a small car, a roll of duct tape and one, I gathered the children together. "Who wants to make ... a Rocket," I asked. Immediately, her eyes light up, and I had their attention, even though I explained that it did not really fly.
The Build
It was at this point I realized that Iwanted to do too much of the original work itself, because the cardboard was too thick for small hands to cut. A few of the boxes were reasonably intact, so that I quickly piled on them at each other to make the body. To the children more involved, I lay flat on the floor, and got them to lie down beside it, so I could measure where the window to third. Afterwards, they "helped" crawling in and out of the body, which was now called 'The Tunnel'.
While theybusy, I cut a few pieces: one for the nose cones and a few of the fins. That it all together was a breeze and took maybe 10 minutes from start to finish, and admittedly, it showed. In a sense, the finished piece looked exactly like a collection of old cardboard taped with duct tape, but to the children, nothing could convince them that this is not a rocket. The fact that it took to reach the ceiling is only more impressive!
The Response
Perhaps myChildren are easily amused, but the excitement in our house that night was palpable! The fact that it is large enough to house my two children was a big bonus, and soon took over their ideas. They have been adopted to play small stories, and hiding, and they even found a way to move the rocket while still in there. Bedtime Stories fly around at night to distant planets circling, but in the back, I expected the novelty to wear off quickly.
Over thefollowing days after the initial enthusiasm has died, but to my surprise, it was replaced with a different kind of enthusiasm: the decoration of the rocket. Every day in the last few weeks they have small stains painting, drawing, few people on it, even a little aluminum foil glued to it to make it look like a spaceship. I was particularly impressed when she found some orange tissue paper about Halloween from the left: they put it on the base of the rocket, because they thought itlooked like fire!
Completion
I wrote at the beginning that I am not a frugal parents that my children would deny everything that their peers took for granted. However, I did not look at this project as building a cheap toy, but as a mandatory, ongoing activity. There is a big difference between a toy and an activity, and I felt that my kids got a lot more enjoyment out of this, many of them as a fly-by-night has brand products.
So, why do not I try thisbefore? In hindsight, I probably do not think I would do a good job. Guess what? I did not know, but I know now that it does not matter. If you are curious, I have a photo of our cardboard rocket on this page (before it was painted). Pretty rough, right? And I bet you could do better, so why not try it with your children? I think it is a small fire lit under their imagination, but she ran with him a lot more than I expected!
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