If you have been doing a lot of online ordering lately, you might have an abundance of cardboard boxes just waiting to be recycled.

While we definitely want you to dispose of them properly, we encourage you to hone your maker skills by repurposing this common packaging before you recycle them! If you look at it with the right eye, you might find a wealth of possibility in this humble packing material. Cardboard and creativity go hand in hand. Read on for 10 of our favorite cardboard DIY projects.

Creative Cardboard Activities You Should Try

1. How To Work With Cardboard – This page gives a good overview of the types of cardboard you might encounter and ways to create using it.
2. Magic Transforming Girl from Cardboard – This Instructable demonstrates how you can make a cool transforming image box trick using just cardboard, chopsticks, and a few other household materials!
3. Make a Playable Cardboard Harp – Create a toy instrument you can play using our favorite packaging material and some rubber bands!

4. Create Cardboard Chess/Checkers Board – Don’t have these classic board games at your disposal? Check out this tutorial to make a 2-in-1 chess and checkers set at home!
5. Cardboard Astromech Droid – For the advanced cardboard connoisseur, try your hand at droid-building!
6. Cardboard Coin-Eating Robot Monster – If you have a spare 9V DC motor lying around, this robot looks to be a cinch!
7. Cardboard Hex Stool – OSC staff tested and approved! This stool is shockingly sturdy and pretty good looking! Learn about the power of triangles with this cool DIY.
8. Cardboard Iron Throne for Cats – Sometimes it feels like our pets run our lives. If you want to make that metaphor more literal, you can try to make this iron throne sized for a cat!
9. Create a Cardboard House with Pool and Garden – Use your cardboard to make a tiny house! You can size it up or down depending on if you want it to fit a particular scale.
10. Cook with a Cardboard Solar Oven – Use some simple materials to create a surprisingly effective solar oven! You can use this kitchen tool to make solar s’mores, re-molded crayons, and more!

This is just the beginning of what you can do if you’re creative with cardboard! There are infinite quantities of infinitely cool things you can do with cardboard if you use your imagination and maybe a little internet searching. Check out artist Pamela Sullivan’s cardboard favelas or Todd Oldham’s Kid Made Modern for more inspiration!