When This Box Is Empty, It Can Be Made Into Games and Toys for Displaced Children

A box designed by Lisanne Koning might contain food, water, toiletries, or other goods to be used by people displaced from their homes. But its purpose doesn't end with delivering supplies. As Co.Design reports, the innovative product, called Inside the Box, is made from brightly painted cardboard that can be made into board games and toys for children.

Koning made the box as part of her thesis at Design Academy Eindhoven and recently exhibited it at Dutch Design Week in the Netherlands. The project aims to help young disaster survivors and refugees living in shelters where playtime isn't a priority. "Every child deserves the chance to play untroubled no matter what the circumstances are," she writes on her website. "Playing helps them to cope."

Shapes can be cut out from the boxes with scissors and assembled into colorful forms of entertainment. One example Koning made features two-dimensional illustrations that can be folded into three-dimensional trucks. Another consists of all the components of a board game, including a board, stand-up pieces, and six-sided dice.

Inside the Box hasn't replaced plain boxes at disaster zones and refugee camps yet, but Koning has tested the concept with a group of Syrian refugees in her area. If it makes its way to shelters around the world, it would be the latest smart product offering multi-purposed functionality in a place where resources are scarce.