Boxes Everywhere!

Boxes and Sticks Inquiry Continued

This interesting idea came from @MadiHayles of the Peel School Board.  I was searching twitter one evening last week when I came across her twitter account.  She tweeted a picture that showed a room filled with boxes and titled it, Boxopolis.  In her following tweets, she wrote about encouraging thinking, learning and self-regulation through play with the boxes.  I was completely impressed by this idea.  Because our students are in the middle of a Box and Stick inquiry, I thought it would be a great idea to try it out with them.  

Ms. Marrella and  I placed a variety of boxes on our carpet and invited a group of students to explore them.  

Ms. Marrella and I observed the way our students were playing with the boxes.  The first thing we noticed was individual personalities emerge.  Some students acted as group leaders, while others as team players.  We saw students having to communicate and compromise with each other in terms of the placement of the boxes and other items they were able to use.  We also observed our students experimenting with balance and problem solving when they were stacking the boxes.  Through their communication with each other, we could see and hear students using their imagination to construct something meaningful.     

Once the students had completed their construction, we asked them to describe what they had made.  We were very impressed by the details the students  incorporated into their structure.  For example, our students explained that they had created a Candy House complete with a chocolate pool and diving board.  In the Candy House lived a clam named Macaroni.  Our students found a small jewelry box that flipped open and closed.  The flipping motion of this box reminded them of a clam.  

Image of the clam (the red & white flip box)
that lives in the Candy House 

Through exploration, our students were free to be creative and use their imagination.  This simple, fun activity provided students with an opportunity to work together to create a structure.  Imagination, self-regulation, communication and problem solving took place during this period of play-based learning.