Want to encourage your kids to be creative? All you need to do is give them a box of recycling, then sit back and watch as they turn into creative geniuses.

Easy! Costs nothing! Keeps the kids entertained for hours!

What’s not to like?

I have two sons. One of their favourite things to do is throw a few cushions into an empty box and sit in it for hours.

No effort required, and it produces two happy boys, with minimum mess. I love it.

Empty boxes really are the best toys.

Rainy day and stuck inside? Open out a cardboard box, so that it is flat on the floor, and give your kids a bunch of pens and crayons to draw all over it.

Or make a den.

Hours of fun guaranteed…