Why do you think many kids enjoy boxes and sacks so much?

For the same reason kittens and puppies do. They represent endless possibilities for fun.

Pots and lids do the same thing for the very young. I think, as you say, @WillWorkForChocolate it is because it is an open territory for the imagination. Toys tend to have a defined purpose or a limited range of purpose. We were “born to be wild” with imagination!

An appliance size box will provide weeks of entertainment for my kids. They will first enjoy sitting in it. Then they might cut some windows. Then, they may add doors and “locks”. Then there may be lookout holes.

It’s the best kind of toy – open-ended. Hell, if I had time, I’d love to play with a box.

I loved appliance boxes, too, and little confined “hideouts” of various descriptions. And holes! The field behind my house looked like a prairie dog village, I’d dug so many kid-sized holes. It was weird to see my son spontaneously take a shovel to a corner of our backyard one day and excavate his own kid-cave. My 5 year old nephew is a compulsive builder of hideouts from chairs and blankets.

Could it be that kids just love having some little, well-defined chunk of space over which they are the unquestioned rulers? Maybe even a little box or bag represents this same kind of staking a claim on a part of the world. Kids can feel so powerless in most things; maybe this is a way in which they can eke out some semblance of control.

This is why. : )

I still remember running into a refrigerator box and slamming against the bottom of the box so hard it stood upright with me inside. How long ago was that?!?!
I’ve been carrying that seemingly meaningless event with me all these years and still smile when I think of it.

Don’t forget soft-sided, zippered luggage. When I’d come home from a trip my kids would be inside it as soon as it was unpacked. As we speak, there are parents spending a fortune on useless junk they think their kids need.

My kids raid the recycling bin on a regular basis – yogurt containers, egg containers, bottles, etc. They get more play value out of these things than the single-use horseshit that is sold in toy stores. Maybe that crap is required for kids who are robbed of creativity by television.

I do the same thing, except not so much as “play with”. I can’t tell you how many empty boxes I keep (nestled inside of other more-or-less empty boxes) because of some future need. Ditto bags, backpacks, computer cases and some luggage. I know it’s going to come in handy one of these days.

Occasionally I even break down and use one of the boxes. (The bags I use all the time. You don’t want to sail with “boxes” if you can help it, but soft-sided bags can be made to fit nearly anywhere. And plastic bags become garbage bags, covers for bowls of leftovers in the fridge, etc.)

@CWOTUS Sounds a bit like me. Maybe that appliance box so long ago imprinted positive vibes that make me appreciate the smell of cardboard.
Occasionally I will sacrifice a box or two to start a fire in my wood burning stove.

If I was a toymaker and had the anwer to your question, I would be the richest man on the planet.

@john65pennington For sure!

My daughter has loved being dragged around the house in empty diaper boxes since she was 5 months old or so. She loves boxes of all sorts and if left to a box and her own devices, she will play for a long time alone with them. She’s at the stage where pulling stuff out and putting stuff in is all brand new and exciting. Depending on the size of the box, she will put all sorts of things inside. I assume when she gets older, she will have more imaginative ways to play with them.

Cardboard has so many possibilities.
For example, the backing for my trollface mask for Halloween.