It is fascinating to see what children will do when given a large cardboard box to play with. By the force of their imaginations, some children will turn it into whatever they want it to be at that moment. Their sophisticated role play can also generate rich language and social interaction between children. But if we want all children to benefit, then early years practitioners need to think carefully about how they will become involved, so children get the most from this exciting resource.
Judith Twani, an early years consultant and children's centre teacher in Thurrock, Essex, supported a daycare setting to devote a whole week to developing activities with cardboard boxes, with spectacular results - for the adults as well as the children.
Much of Judith's work involves influencing parents and practitioners' approaches to language, play and learning. 'The idea came from my observations of how children of different ages play with boxes,' she says. 'I have been using boxes in my groups for parents with children aged nought to two, and with childminders.'
She was also inspired by Antoinette Portis' book Not a Box!, in which a rabbit turns a box into all sorts of objects, from a fire engine to a mountain. 'My play and learning sessions with boxes became known as "It's not a box!" sessions.'
Judith was particularly struck by the response of one childminder who, after attending a box session, found her normally unco-operative mixed-age group of children played and co-operated well for three hours.
This inspired Judith to explore in depth the potential of cardboard boxes for play, language and learning, and particularly for co-operative play and social development. She asked a few settings to make observations and take photographs as evidence.
Staff at Little Angels Day Nursery, an all-day care setting for children from six months to five years, were keen to join in. Like many settings, Little Angels is organised into three rooms: baby room for children from six months to two years; the two to threes room; and the three to fives.
Judith and deputy manager Sarah Fraser were already involved in some reflective work based on Learning, Playing and Interacting: Good practice in the Early Years Foundation Stage, and they could see that observing children's box play would be an ideal way of exploring the principles in the book with the whole staff.
The core theme of this National Strategies document is that adults can best support children's learning in different activities if we are clear about our role. How we plan activities, and particularly how we interact with children, can either extend or inhibit learning and social development. It describes a continuum of adult support ranging from unstructured and child-initiated play at one end of the spectrum to focused learning and highly structured intervention at the other.
Judith explains, 'I developed a rough plan for how a week of activities with boxes might look, involving all the children in various age groups, and including activities that involved unstructured play, child-initiated play, focused learning and highly structured approaches from adults. I went in every day to see what was happening, and to talk through what the staff were finding out.'
The setting was fortunate to have a contact at Blacks Outdoor Leisure in Thurrock and the shop provided them with access to an almost unlimited supply of large boxes. Parents were also asked to donate boxes of different shapes and sizes, and to be prepared to ask their children what they had been doing with them.
UNSTRUCTURED PLAY
Monday was 'unstructured play day', with no adult involvement, apart from minimal supervision. In the three to fives room children mostly ignored the boxes during the morning, and one child asked if they could move them because they were in the way! Once one child started to play imaginatively with a box, this drew all the others in. They began pulling each other around in the boxes and made boats with them outside in the puddles.
Children in the two to threes room were immediately engaged, and especially enjoyed climbing in and out.
CHILD-INITIATED PLAY
Tuesday was 'child-initiated play day'. The adults' role was to provide the resources and to follow the children's lead in how they used them, joining in as participants but not as leaders. The adults were also aware that these play sequences could go on for some time, so it was planned that they would be available for the duration of the play.
This approach led to high levels of involvement and co-operation in the three to fives room. One boy stood in a box and shouted, 'Africa is that way and London is that way!' and 'We need a map'. Meanwhile, two girls were deeply involved in using Sellotape and a box to make a boat.
Children in the two to threes room were deeply involved in play. In the baby room the babies and adults played peek-a-boo. Painting boxes and sitting in them became favourite activities.
FOCUSED LEARNING
'Focused Learning Wednesday' involved adults taking the lead in activities. Nonetheless, these were playful, and based around what the adults now knew were children's definite interests.
They introduced Not a Box to the three to fives and the two to threes and discussed with the children what they might transform their boxes into.
Adults and children agreed about what they would make, and what resources they would need. The older children in particular were inspired by the ideas in the book, and this was reflected in their play and language.
STRUCTURED LEARNING
On 'Highly Structured Thursday' the adults were a lot more directive in activities. In the three to fives room they numbered some smaller boxes and put them on the table for a small group of children to place the boxes in order of size. The children, however, seemed to order them by criteria of their own. After experimenting with different children and removing certain boxes, the staff discovered the children were more interested in grouping the boxes by pattern and colour. The adults then encouraged them to focus on the size. This activity gave them an insight into the children's thinking.
Friday was back to child-initiated play, and when I arrived in the morning to take photographs, there were boxes of all sizes everywhere. The children were completely absorbed in cutting, sticking and painting, or just sitting and imagining. They even wanted to turn a box over and use it as a table at snack time!
IMPACT
Summing up the impact of the project, Judith says, 'Staff had observed children's increased concentration and sustained focus, with many examples of higher levels of sharing, turn-taking and co-operation.
'There seem to be limitless possibilities with what children of all ages can do with a box, as long as the adults provide the right environment and behave in a sensitive and appropriate way.'
Staff too were positive about the project. Their reactions included, 'I really enjoyed observing the children's play and writing observations.'
'I didn't realise how much play, language and learning could come from a box, and it's free!'
'The time seemed to fly by, and we must definitely plan to do similar projects regularly, particularly where we can make links with a book.'
So when is a box not a box? When it's in the hands of a child!
Michael Jones is an early years trainer and writer, and early language consultant for the Every Child a Talker projects in Bedford and Thurrock.
MORE INFORMATION
- - Not a Box by Antoinette Portis (HarperCollins)
- - 'Learning, Playing and Interacting: Good practice in the Early Years Foundation Stage' can be downloaded from www.nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/242798
- - For a detailed account of the 'It's not a box!' project, and the implications for adult support and children's learning, contact Judith Twani at j.twani92@yahoo.co.uk
