I started making toys when I was 6 years old. I would take empty food containers and combine them together to create toy robots, vehicles, and play set toys. I would create elaborate play cockpits for imaginary spaceships built out of large cardboard boxes and blanket forts for my headquarters and landing pads. I would create paper models of the space crafts I was supposedly flying into adventures. As a young kid, this brought me endless enjoyment.
I don’t have any of those toys any more. But I still have the memories of the joy they brought me and hours I’ve spent making and playing with them.
This toy robot made from an empty tea box, a Chapstick container, two Altoids tins, and some toilet paper rolls is very reminiscent of those toys.
It’s brings me joy to know that everyday things can become something greater; that normally discarded containers can be used to bring the imagination to life and become something more. It shows that creativity and imagination can be a huge teaching tool while inspiring play.
