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The author’s kids enjoy making crafts out of duct tape and old tractor parts, including her son’s robot Robesy, seen here. Courtesy of Bethaney Phillips
2026-01-11T11:51:01.222Z
- In the Midwest, when it’s cold all winter, I keep my boys busy with cardboard and tape.
- They love creating something interesting out of whatever they can get their hands on.
- I’m happy to let them do it, as long as the weather is bad. When it’s nice, they go outside.
In the Midwest, we experience all four seasons — sometimes multiple in a single day. My boys, 6 and 8, love spending time outside, but in the winter, when…
Essay by
The author’s kids enjoy making crafts out of duct tape and old tractor parts, including her son’s robot Robesy, seen here. Courtesy of Bethaney Phillips
2026-01-11T11:51:01.222Z
- In the Midwest, when it’s cold all winter, I keep my boys busy with cardboard and tape.
- They love creating something interesting out of whatever they can get their hands on.
- I’m happy to let them do it, as long as the weather is bad. When it’s nice, they go outside.
In the Midwest, we experience all four seasons — sometimes multiple in a single day. My boys, 6 and 8, love spending time outside, but in the winter, when temperatures drop, or there’s a storm, they’re often stuck indoors away from the cold.
Enter the most genius parenting idea I have ever been gifted. When a friend sent me a Reel about moms collecting "interesting trash," my husband and I knew it would be an immediate hit. In the Reel, letting your kids create with such trash was referred to as "free-range crafting, and my husband went out to buy two rolls of duct tape so we could try it with our kids — since then, we’ve never looked back. That first day, they spent hours cutting random pieces of cardboard we had, taping things together, and inventing anything their imagination could think up.
They love creating with cardboard, old tractor parts, tape, and more
They’ve been "free-range crafting" for a few months now, and their excitement about it has only grown, along with our supply of boxes and tape. Christmas brought tons of lids, packaging, plastic plates and cups, and more.
Additionally, my husband brings home broken tractor parts that are safe for them to use. He’s a diesel mechanic, and they enjoy finding new use for the metal shapes that would otherwise be trash. I also save yogurt containers, milk jugs — basically anything that can be easily cleaned and won’t cause injury.
The author keeps "interesting trash" for her kids to create with. Courtesy of Bethaney Phillips
They also received cool-touch hot glue guns and their own packs of masking tape. (They had been asking to use tape on the floors, so now they are able to do that.) A bonus is that Grandma got them rolls of colored tape, so they’ve decorated half their room.
I also added actual craft supplies to their stash that I didn’t mind them getting into — the whole goal is they can do as they please with these things — including yarn, watercolors, markers, scissors, and ribbon. (Balloons and kabob sticks, on the other hand, were quickly vetoed.) They usually grab things from their room as well.
Their creativity knows no bounds
Technically, they are supposed to stay in one room of the house while working on their masterpiece craft project. That rarely happens, however, as their creativity leads them to grab new parts and soon they’re spread out into the living room, hallway, and more.
If they are playing well, I let it happen and just make sure they pick up that evening. It’s all kept in a large cardboard box in their crafting space. I don’t care if it looks neat, as long as it’s contained. They are also only allowed to craft when the weather doesn’t cooperate. Any hint of nice weather means they are going outside to play.
My oldest, who loves soldiers and weapons, has built countless play knives. He builds them and uses them to play army or spies, a common pastime in our house. He has also built vehicles and cut cardboard pieces to use as a barn or shed while playing.
The author’s 8-year-old built a "dirt bike" out of two empty rolls of ribbon for his action figure to ride. Courtesy of Bethaney Phillips
Meanwhile, my youngest opts for robots or spaceships. He turned a broken U-joint from a tractor into his very own robot, named Robesy, who became so important that he came along on the family’s 16-hour holiday road trip. Both of my boys enjoy having the ability to create whatever item they need to complete their playtime vision.
Even after getting way too much for Christmas, they continue to play and build. They are using their imagination and remaining creative without begging to watch TV or get on a device. Yes, there are bits of cardboard and tape all over my house, and yes, we are going through record amounts of tape and glue, but it’s a fun pastime they enjoy, and we love watching what they create.