As every primary teacher knows, nothing facilitates the creative urge like cardboard boxes. With the help of a tub of PVA glue, whole cities can be constructed from them. In fact, this year alone, they have helped our finest construction engineers build robots of the future, a giant tyrannosaur, historical castles, and a fleet of spaceships designed to boldly go where no child has gone before.
But their uses go beyond design and technology. Especially when teachers think inside rather than outside the box. When the children returned to class after lunch today, it was resting on my knee. Arriving in mysterious circumstances, its unexpected appearance instantly soothed the emotional sores caused by 45 minutes of intense social interaction in a crowded playground.
Where has it come from? Who is it for? What’s inside it? The questions come thick and fast, and I confess that I have no answers. Maybe the large brown envelope that arrived with it will enlighten us. It has the word IMPORTANT in bold capitals across the front. Daenerys volunteers to read its contents to the class.
Dangerous creature
The box is from Great Uncle Bulgaria Eddison, who is currently on an expedition in the remote jungle regions of Northern Grimsylvania, in search of new species of animals. It contains an unusual creature that we need to take care of until he returns. We are advised to read carefully and follow precisely the instructions that are written beneath the words DANGEROUS CREATURE on the front.
• Handle with care
• Do not attempt to open the box
• Coax the creature out by reading a poem to it.
• Use a poem on the theme of caring for our planet.
By an amazing coincidence we have only this morning written a class poem called Do Not Kill Our Planet. We gather around the package (which is still on my knee) and begin whispering the first verse together in a gently coaxing way. “Do not put plastic in our oceans. Do not cut down all our trees. Do not spray insecticides. Do not kill the busy bees.”
Frantic twitching
After the first verse the children stop and listen. Is that scratching sound we can hear coming from inside the box? Is something stirring in there? We continue reading and by the end of the third verse it is clear that the mysterious creature inside is well and truly awake. We know this by the frantic twitching and jerking of the box on my knee.
We read the final verse. “Do not kill spiders. Do not put wet wipes down the loo. Do not use plastic straws. All these things, DO NOT DO!” We shout the last line, but it is a mistake. The scratching sound intensifies. The box shakes furiously. Those children who insisted on being closest try to shuffle backwards, but it’s too late. Accompanied by a loud shriek from a terrified teacher, the box lid flies off and a huge spider leaps out.
You never know what might be lurking inside a cardboard box. Especially one with a secret hole in the back big enough for a large, eight-legged glove puppet to fit through.
Steve Eddison is a teacher at Arbourthorne Community Primary School in Sheffield
