I don’t think my kids like playing with toys as much as they enjoy playing with everything else. I guess it starts when they are babies and they want the crinkly wrapping paper or bag rather than the gift. They get a little older and empty boxes are the best toy ever! I think Mattel understood this and began marketing them this past Christmas.
Today my girls played with a laundry basket; it was their boat. They had the best time and I loved listening, from a distance, and snapping photos of their imagination at work.
They were in the boat together. Morgan was a mermaid and she was able to swim out of the boat and get some other supplies for the human. Emily was a scuba diver girl so she also could breath under water. They fell out of the boat, the boat got a leak, the sharks swarmed the boat – the list of adventures goes on and on.
What unusual objects do your kids enjoy playing with the most?
BabyBookForMe 
Feb 22, 2012 @ 10:31:54
Adorable. Laundry baskets are a hit. My mom says when I was growing up, my favorite place to sleep was in a laundry basket!
Feb 22, 2012 @ 14:00:16
too cute!
Feb 20, 2012 @ 20:53:57
Mine are the same way. Its a wonder why we bother buying toys
Feb 22, 2012 @ 13:58:50
i am on a toy buying strike! the girls don’t seem to mind, we’ll recycle the old toys to make some new ones and i think they’ll be even happier.
Feb 20, 2012 @ 19:07:49
We save big boxes for the boys all the time and they love it. They also play with their own toys but use them for other purposes. I love their imagination! Kids definitely know how to think out of the box.
Feb 22, 2012 @ 13:57:29
Yes I love how the leash for the toy dogs become a stethoscope because the stethoscope is being used as a hula hoop. so creative!
Feb 20, 2012 @ 13:35:25
I remember doing this as a kid! I loved it! Once I took a big empty cardboard box and painted the outside to look like a bus, so I was a driver in a big bus. So much fun! Thanks for following my blog!
Feb 22, 2012 @ 13:56:13
my girls are addicted to school buses at the moment. I may surprise them with a painted box one day soon. thanks for the post.
Feb 19, 2012 @ 12:13:48
Excellent post! Can’t wait to see what else you put up!
Feb 19, 2012 @ 07:11:18
I love it when my kids drag blankets into the kitchen and turn the table into a fort.
Feb 22, 2012 @ 13:55:20
yes, blanket forts are the best! Once the neighbors asked us if we had company over because we had blankets everywhere. When I told the kid what they were for he told me I had the “most fun house ever!”. So easy to please
Feb 18, 2012 @ 00:10:55
Give a baby a milk jug and watch what happens. Another good toy is putting a single bell or two, and some fancy sequins in a plastic spice jar and gluing the lid on . . . a hillbilly rattle. ;). People spend way too much on kid’s toys when most kids really would rather have the box. Especially if a refrigerator came in it . . . instant fort. Your kids are cute playing in that laundry basket.
Feb 22, 2012 @ 13:54:02
love the hillbilly rattle idea. you should pin it to pinterest!
Feb 17, 2012 @ 15:39:00
My kids liked to do this too….that is until they broke my basket 😦
Feb 22, 2012 @ 13:52:37
I can remember breaking my moms baskets and then the plastic would cut and pinch you when you tried to use it. I bet we learned to be more careful with them at that point.
Feb 17, 2012 @ 15:03:37
We bought a deep freezer a few years ago and it came in a giant box. My daughter turned it into her playhouse. She colored it and had us cut out doors and windows. No matter how much I begged, she wouldn’t let me get rid of that box for the longest time. Did I mention it was a giant box?
Feb 22, 2012 @ 13:51:28
Assuming you don’t have an enormous house with tons of extra space for box houses, what did you do with it on a daily basis? I always feel bad when I eventually toss the box.
Feb 17, 2012 @ 11:09:55
I love this. My son likes to get in his wagon and his little friend pushes him around. It is so cute.
Feb 22, 2012 @ 13:49:50
its fun to watch little ones take care of each other isn’t it?
Feb 17, 2012 @ 10:54:00
My son uses those pop up hampers and sits inside of them. He actually lays them down sideways and sits inside of it. I think it might be a spaceship, although he never tells me that. My daughter uses that same hamper, ties a tie to the top of it and says its a wagon. LOL. My son also loved laundry baskets when he was younger. We also really love cardboard boxes over here too. The kids color the outside of it and then sit inside of it. I wish they would stay this little! It’s so cute how their imagination works (which can be a good or bad outcome).
Feb 17, 2012 @ 11:12:31
An idea I am borrowing from a friend is to do a drive in movie night, assuming your kids are little. Each kid decorates their own cardboard box and you sit in it while you watch a movie together. Popcorn and drinks could also be served in them.
Feb 19, 2012 @ 07:10:04
I am soooo stealing that.
Feb 17, 2012 @ 07:32:46
My baby brother used to play in the laundry basket all the time too, except he called it his spaceship 😛
Feb 17, 2012 @ 11:15:46
Spaceship! Did you push him all around so he was flying through space, I did that with my little brother and I would throw pillows at him and tell him they were clouds. I think that was just an excuse to beam pillows at my little brother’s head though.
Feb 17, 2012 @ 16:06:07
actually I didn’t, but I sorta wish I did now 😛
Feb 17, 2012 @ 07:04:30
My daughter (7 months old) loves playing with curtains more than any of her toys. As far the laundry basket boat, I used to do the same when I was a little girl 😉 😀
Feb 17, 2012 @ 11:13:29
I definitely think the laundry basket is a timeless item for kids to imagine with. I know I did as a child as well.