Admittedly when my son was gifted a box of Makedo I was a little bit skeptical. I know that there are a trillion and one craft projects to be had with old shoe boxes, egg cartons and a toilet paper roll, but I personally struggle to think of any (read : hopeless at craft!). But more to the point, I’m not very good at hanging onto rubbish — anything recyclable goes straight into the recycle bin or to the school. And, if I’m  completely honest, I secretly find it kind of cathartic tossing rubbish out. Crazy, I know! In any case, rubbish has taken on a whole new meaning to me since that first box of Makedo (of which…gulp…we now have 3). And these days I wouldn’t dream of tossing a perfectly re-usable piece of scrap.

Makedo is a very simple concept — it is a connector system made up of a connector, a hinge and a construction tool. With these tools, materials like cardboard, plastic and fabric can easily join together to form new objects or structures — a robot perhaps or a boat or a ‘thingy’ as my son refers to things these days. 

And when you’re done playing,  you just pull it apart to reuse; or ‘up-use’. There is even a construction tool which can punch holes and cut through various types of card without risk of injury. Well, needless to say the possibilities are endless. And the children can let their imaginations run wild. It has even unleashed in me a creativity that I never knew existed.  It is simple brilliance at it’s best.

Makedo is available for local and international purchase through their website, just click here.

– Sara

P.S.  To see Makedo in action check out this video — it only takes two minutes and it really is quite fabulous.