Build Your Kids Toys Out Of Cardboard Boxes, Because Let's Face It: They Don't Give A $#*!

Why spend tons of money when your kids will literally play with cardboard?

For the modern parent, selecting an expensive play kitchen has become a monumental decision. We agonize over reviews and post in our Facebook parenting groups asking for recommendations. As though the gigantic box that play kitchen comes in won’t be the best thing our toddlers have ever seen.

Honestly, what in the wide world of fucks is wrong with us that we are willing to spend upward of $200 on something we can make almost literally for free? That’s why these parents DIY-ing the shit out of cardboard boxes to make precious play kitchens for their kids are definitely on to something.

According to Pop Sugar, mom Rodessa Villanueva-Reyes was merely hoping to give her 1-year-old daughter Audrey a fun, new toy. Instead, she built the most beautiful cardboard thing we’ve ever seen.

Is this not amazing? Villanueva tells Pop Sugar that she and her husband collected the boxes, made marks to cut out the oven and cabinet doors and finished it off with decals to create the play kitchen of any kid’s dreams. She even made a sign reading “Audrey’s Café and Restaurant” complete with a custom logo. Adorable, right?

This mom isn’t the only one turning her recyclables into a veritable kiddie dreamland. Pinterest is loaded with ideas for cardboard box DIY toys for parents of every level of skill and ambition.

Of course, cardboard creations can be easily destroyed by toddlers pulling a Chris Farley-style belly flop during a fit of rage, ruining all of your hard Pinteresty work. But that’s the beauty of it. It can be thrown out once a child is bored of it unlike the $200 monstrosity from Toys R Us that you eventually have to sell on Craigslist or put out on the curb. When something is made of cardboard, it’s only one garbage day away from not being your problem anymore. Once your kids stop giving a shit about it, it’s gone!

Making it elaborate and twee is obviously all for us parents — it’s something moms and dads might find fun. A cool project to do. But we all know that kids will love it even if it’s just a plain box with a few oven knobs drawn on with a Sharpie marker. Make it as true-to-life as you want — or don’t. It’s truly up to you.

The one common theme is saving tons of money on something your child might lose interest in a month later. Your handiwork is worth something, but we can all agree that it’s not so terrible seeing your child stop caring about a literal cardboard box when compared to something that cost two weeks’ worth of groceries.