Mystery Fruit Box

This is a popular one that I sourced partially from Running Man, an asian game-variety TV show that I grew up watching, and definitely one that my students LOVED both years in art class. The point of this activity is for kids to have fun feeling the objects inside of the handmade mystery box (which they always do and attempt to get a look inside) and then draw what they felt without looking! The materials for the box itself is super simple, it's just about whether you can find the suitable items to put inside.

Materials: (w/ substitutions in parenthesis)

• Big Amazon box (or whatever box)

• Box cutters

• A4 Paper

• Smidge of any tape

• Red marker (colored pencil)

• FUN objects to put inside of the box - examples are shown below

Step 1: (except it's really the whole process)

Trace out a oval big enough for both you and a child's hand to reach through. Then, carefully cut with a box cutter in the same orientation and side of the rectangular box as shown above.

Draw a big, red, enticing question mark on the paper, hotdog style. The quintessential mystery box! End off with taping the paper to the cardboard box.

Step 2:

This is the fun bit where you pick fruits, vegetables, and fun sensory objects lying around your house. Have the kids all go up to feel the objects and draw what they felt on a piece of paper, and maybe even compete for who drew the object most accurately! For things with arbitrary colors like the sweater on a bear, it might be fun to see who draws it with the right color coincidentally. This game is great for kids to develop better tactile perception, visualiation, and ultimately being able to transcribe that onto paper. Have fun and let me know how it goes!