Book of the Month

What to Do with a Box

About the book

If you give a child a box, who can tell what will happen next? It may become a library or a boat. It could set the scene for a fairy tale or a wild expedition. The most wonderful thing is its seemingly endless capacity for magical adventure, a feature imaginatively captured in cardboardesque art by Chris Sheban and rhythmically celebrated in this poetic tribute by renowned children's author Jane Yolen.

The Origin of the Cardboard Challenge

9-year-old Caine Monroy spent his summer vacation building an elaborate cardboard arcade inside his dad's used auto parts store. The entire summer went by, and Caine never had a single customer. Then, on the last day of summer, a filmmaker named Nirvan walked in by chance to buy an auto part. Caine asked Nirvan to play, and what happened next inspired the world!

Since launching in 2012, the Global Cardboard Challenge has engaged over 500,000 kids in 70 Countries in Creative Play, and continues to grow. The Imagination Foundation has also launched a few new programs, including an Inventor's Challenge and an Earth Day Cardboard Challenge (currently happening now)! They also formed Imagination Chapters to give kids time and space for Creative Play every week. They launched in 2014 with 30 pilot Chapters, and grew last year to over 130 Chapters in 20 Countries. These Chapters now give over 3,000 kids 2 hours of Creative Play every week for a 9 month program, and have built a network of amazing volunteers, educators and community organizers passionate about fostering the creativity of kids like Caine in our communities.

The Earth Day Challenge

Recycle, Build, Play … and Repeat!

The theme for Earth Day 2017 is Environmental and Climate Literacy. Before we can solve the dire environmental threats facing us in the 21st century, we must build a global citizenry knowledgeable in environmental science and fluent in local and global ecological issues.

This spring, we invited kids of all ages everywhere to join the inaugural Earth Day Cardboard Challenge. Beginning on April 1 and culminating the day before Earth Day, April 21, the Earth Day Cardboard Challenge is an opportunity to celebrate ecological values through recycling and Creative Play!

The Challenge:

Creators will be repurposing cardboard and other recyclables into new creations! The creations can be anything you would like to create -- it can be realistic, or something straight from your imagination!

Criteria:

* Students may use any and all recyclable, reusable, or renewable resources to assemble their creations.

* The sky is the limit! There is not a size constraint.

Constraints:

* Students are limited to using only recyclable, reusable resources.

* Students must have their creations complete by Friday, April 21st (The day before Earth Day).