Lowly Cardboard Box Gets Toy Hall Of Fame Spot

POSTED: 11:46 am EST November 12, 2005
UPDATED: 11:47 am EST November 12, 2005

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Forget the fancy toy: The box it comes in can be much
more fun.

Spaceship, castle, haven to daydream in, the cardboard box was enshrined
Friday in the National Toy Hall of Fame along with Jack-in-the-Box and Candy
Land.

No kidding, grown-ups.

"I think every adult has had that disillusioning experience of picking what
they think is a wonderful toy for a child, and then finding the kid playing
with the box," said Christopher Bensch, chief curator of the Strong Museum.
"It's that empty box full of possibilities that the kids can sense and the
adults don't always see."

Low-tech and unpretentious it may be, but the cardboard box has fostered
learning and creativity for multiple generations - a key qualifier for
inclusion in the museum's seven-year-old hall of fame. And its appeal as a
plaything or recreational backdrop is universal.

All over the world, "packaging is something that's accessible to kids,
whether that's cans or tins or wooden crates," Bensch said, and the
cardboard box "makes a point that you don't have to spend a lot, have a
certain income level or charge it on your credit card to have your kids have
a great play experience."

The museum, which boasts the world's largest collection of toys and dolls,
acquired the hall in 2002 from A.C. Gilbert's Discovery Village in Salem,
Ore.

So far, 34 classic toys have been enshrined, from Barbie to Mr. Potato Head,
Legos to Lincoln Logs, Slinky to Play-Doh and Crayola crayons to marbles.

Candy Land, a board game decorated with a sweet-treats trail and
destinations such as Gumdrop Mountain, was created in the 1940s by a San
Diego polio victim, Eleanor Abbott, who wanted a pastime for children
recuperating from illness.

Jack-in-the-Box, the jester who bursts open his box lid when a compressed
spring is released, appears to have originated in the 16th century. The toy
is loosely based on Punch, the dynamic puppet in the "Punch and Judy" show.

The corrugated cardboard box, which quickly came to dominate the shipping
industry in North America, was invented by a Brooklyn printer, Robert Gair,
in 1890.

Strong Museum, the second-largest children's museum in America, is aiming to
wrap up a $33 million expansion next summer that could double its attendance
to nearly 700,000 visitors a year. The 23-year-old museum contains more than
70,000 toys and dolls and features circus memorabilia, children's books,
household furniture, miniatures and various objects of American culture
dating from the 1820s.