by POPSUGAR Moms 5

My daughter was gifted a tot tower as a baby — long before I could appreciate how wonderful a stack of cardboard nesting boxes could be.

In the past three years, the ten colorful cubes have been built up, knocked down, lost, found, and chewed. They have accompanied us to many dinner parties — the perfect traveling toy that doesn't make noise or stain things and can be conveniently toted around in its own case. Our cubes have been reinvented to assist in magic tricks and thanks to my son, haphazardly made into stairs.

Despite all the toys that come and go, kids are happy to play with boxes.