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Cardboard box city: a play idea for 4 and 5 year olds

Planning a city and naming its places mixes building with storytelling. It takes about 20 minutes and uses empty boxes of different sizes, markers, tape.

Checked October 29, 2026.

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How to play

Cardboard box city4 and 5 year olds · about 20 minutes

You need: empty boxes of different sizes, markers, tape.

  1. Turn boxes into buildings: draw doors and windows.
  2. Lay tape on the floor for roads between them.
  3. Name each building: the library, the bakery, our house.
  4. Drive toy cars or walk toy people around the city.

Builds: thinking and problem solving and moving and using hands. Planning a city and naming its places mixes building with storytelling.

parent.peabody.kids/play/cardboard-box-city · Free, no ads

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