A perfect match
If I had to choose just one repurposed material to have in our art studio, I would, without hesitation, choose cardboard. Yes—cardboard! That humble, sturdy, brownish sheet. Why? Because with a bit of imagination, it can be reborn as anything. It’s the most versatile of all repurposed materials.
Cardboard has a quiet confidence about it. It doesn’t scream for attention like sequins or need fancy introductions like watercolour. But give it to my preschoolers, and suddenly, it becomes pretty much anything: a skeleton, a knight’s shield, a city skyline, a laptop, a fish, a robot—a whole world in three dimensions.
In our art studio, cardboard isn’t just a material—it’s a muse. We can’t get enough! The more we use it, the more we discover new ways to incorporate this brown gold into our creations. With cardboard as our base, children make the most amazing things: masks for pretend play, shields for epic battles, experimental collages, laptops for play workdays, props for performances, and intricate sea creatures that seem to swim right off the table.
It’s the strong, silent type—dependable, textured, perfectly imperfect, and generously abundant. And best of all? It’s free. Rescued from the recycling bin, it gets to live again and again in the hands of our young artists.
Cardboard is both the sturdy backing for master pieces and the backbone of our miniature cities. It can play a supporting role or be the star of the show. Sometimes it serves as a backing board, giving strength to amazing paintings. Other times, it is the artwork itself—folded, layered, sculpted, and brought to life with glue, scissors, and boundless creativity.
Cardboard doesn’t care about perfection. It comes with creases, folds, and a rustic charm that invites risk-taking, trial and error, and bold ideas. It’s forgiving. It can be cut and re-glued, reshaped and repurposed, again and again.
Here, you’ll see a kaleidoscope of cardboard-inspired creations, where this unassuming material is the true star—delivering not just what we expected, but surprising us every time with a little extra magic. It’s art, architecture, storytelling, and engineering all in one.
So the next time you unpack a box, don’t toss it—transform it. Because in the hands of a child (or a slightly cardboard-obsessed teacher), it’s never just cardboard.
It’s possibility. Wrapped in brown.