Play and Imagination: Not a Box

Ben Kovac's and I have been working hard to bring play back into our classrooms.  It is always a challenge to find time and space to do this work, but the reward is worth it.  Play has been a conversation we have dipped into this year and students are always excited to talk about it.  The energy changes in the room, imagination and fun start to increase and smiles arrive on faces.

We used the  brilliant book, Not a Box by Antoinette Portis to start our work around imagination. As one of my students said, "I haven't used my imagination in a long time."  We are working to change this for our students.  I wanted students to try to not use an idea already presented in the book, and it try not to duplicate another's idea.  In the end, the box became whatever the student decided.  

Book Creator was the app that worked best for us to recreate the format of the Antoinette Portis book, to transform the box into something imaginative. 

Here is a link to the ebook.


How are you bringing play into your life?