The Importance of a Shoe Box

By Joyce Hemphill (Queen of Play)

Way back when I was entering the job market I interviewed for a company that designed and tested the promotional items, or prizes, included in cereal boxes, snack foods, and fast food kid’s meals. I found the research behind what the company was doing extremely fascinating. It was a thrill to meet the people who designed the prizes I would see on TV and always hoped to find in the bottom of my caramel corn box.

The premise behind the company’s prize model was simple: four different versions of a toy with each version coming in three colors. Think about it, that’s a total of 12 prizes! “Collect ’em all!” This company was clearly in tune with children. Kids begin collecting things around five to six years old. From rocks, stickers, and stuffed animals to prizes in cereal boxes, anything and everything they find interesting is fair game. Oftentimes they are most intrigued by the unique differences that set individual pieces apart. To a child, the variety is just as important as the amount.

I was reminded of the interview when cleaning out my closet. I came across a shoe box that had been pushed to the back corner. The box contained my son’s rock collection. I can clearly remember how they would carefully scan the stones on each visit to one of Madison’s beaches or how they would examine our favorite walking path in the neighborhood woods. They were always on the lookout for that perfect specimen. Once home it was safely stored in the repurposed shoe box. From time to time they would take out the box and sort their treasures. Sometimes by color, sometimes by size, sometimes by shininess, and sometimes by where they were found. The more they learned about rocks, the more they applied relevant scientific concepts to their sorting process.

Research tells us that children strengthen their analytical skills as they collect stuff. From rocks, stickers, and stuffed animals to prizes in cereal boxes, as they build up and sort through their collections they tap into the same observational skills they practice when in school. These skills apply to math, science, reading, and can connect to culture and history depending on the collection. As children continue to collect they continue to grow as learners, and express themselves though their interests to develop and strengthen a part of their identity. And of course, going on a treasure hunt for that perfect specimen can be an adventure for the whole family.

So I ask you, “What’s in your shoe box?”

(YiP) Yours in Play

Joyce