A Summer of Cardboard Crafts: MGB x Makedo’s Summer Collaboration
We had quite the busy summer this year! If you’ve been to any of our Fremont Street Eats art activity booth events this May-August, you would have seen a line of children waiting eagerly for their turn to make some art. What were they lining up for, you ask? Cardboard!
This Summer 2023, My Good Brain (MGB) collaborated with Makedo, a toy company creating cardboard construction tools based in Australia, to create a series of social-emotional learning art activities. This collaboration was MGB’s way of continuing down the path towards sustainability in art-making, and what a better way than to upcycle some used, plentiful cardboard that was originally used as packaging material for many of our daily consumer goods. Our main goal was to use Makedo products to show it can benefit children’s mental wellness, as we help create mental health-themed approaches to using their tools.
Through the MGB x Makedo collaboration, we’ve created a brand new collection of art-based social-emotional health activities using the Makedo tools! Our creative team of volunteers came up with a series of six art activities designed to support social-emotional learning using recycled cardboard! Below, we’ve shared some of our favorite ones from this summer.
“My Favorite Me” Puppet
For this activity, participants were asked to create a puppet of their favorite version of themselves. The activity goal was to use it as a form of encouragement and to show kids that their confidence is always within reach. Kids enjoyed decorating and designing their very own puppets and shared them with their families!
Mountains and Valleys
For this activity, we wanted to highlight the importance of understanding our own narrative stories in order to overcome challenges. Mountains represent good times, and valleys represent bad times. Little cardboard figures on top of the mountains or the valley could symbolize what happened during those good or bad times (a cardboard cupcake, a cardboard dog, a cardboard toy, etc.). Participants enjoyed making this activity, and particularly paid great attention to the construction of the mountains for their diorama. It was remarkable to hear children’s stories about the ups and downs of their week and how they conceptualized them.
Confidence Crown
To celebrate Pride Month, we kicked off our event with a Confidence Crown art activity! With this activity, we wanted to share the message that we should all be proud of who we are, our individuality, and our accomplishments. The kids absolutely loved it, that we actually ran out of art materials by the end of the night! It was wonderful to see the children and families really embrace the art activity and show off their personality.
The MGB x Makedo SEL art activities were not only fun, they were also very intriguing for children and parents alike! So many families were interested in the Makedo tools we were using and how it not only taught kids how to use tools in a safe manner, but also taught them confidence in learning and using new tools. Plus, it was a hit among the many parents who were inspired to find other ways to repurpose their own collection of cardboard boxes at home! We can use cardboard art to:
teach children about upcycling and ways to address eco-anxiety
build their self-esteem
practice mindfulness and focus
foster creative problem-solving skills
practice pretend play and cooperation
promote social connections among youth & families
and so much more!
I hope this encourages and inspires you to try your hand at cardboard art. You can find more information about our MGB x Makedo collaboration here or check out our downloadable MGB x Makedo SEL art activity booklet to try it on your own. Remember to enjoy and embrace the process!