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"    Last winter, I remember Josh and Samantha sitting tandem in a cardboard box like two lugers in the Olympics. They colored the outside of the box and then tattooed it with stickers. You would have thought I brought home a bouncy moonwalk the way their eyes lit up when I said they could play with the box. On any given afternoon it was a spaceship, a fort or a Lego factory. Maybe in some ways times don&amp;#039;t change. I vividly recall my parents granting me a big box that became my playhouse. I cut out windows and a door. Forget Barbie&amp;#039;s Dream House\u2014I had a fortress with Holly Hobbie pillowcases dressing the windows. In her 19 months, Ariana&amp;#039;s accumulated a slew of toys: a keyboard that plays the alphabet, squishy dolls, stuffed animals, stacking cups, blocks, trains, a wooden barn, a pink musical bus, a singing chair, a handheld radio, a cell phone, a camera and a little remote control car. But she&amp;#039;s still drawn to a cardboard box\u2014flaps and all. Samantha decorated one with colored construction paper and it&amp;#039;s where she houses her favorite Gabriella, Miley and Hannah dolls. But Ariana dumps the box every chance she gets and climbs in. She just sits inside and laughs\u2014no batteries required. So why buy toys when I can just recycle a box? After having to throw out Aqua Dots (thanks to a chemical that turns the beads toxic when ingested) and piles of plastic playthings made in China (thanks to them being tainted by lead paint), I suppose a cardboard box isn&amp;#039;t such a bad choice. And the price is right.\u2014Julie Weingarden Dubin Are you surprised by any of the things your kids have enjoyed playing with? What have you found to be a worthwhile purchase? "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/life/a41483/thinking-inside-the-box-5963/>