How many children fit into a VW Transporter? The answer: two! Provided it is made of cardboard like this one here from Kickpack. Photo: Kickpack

A world of cardboard - Unique toys made of corrugated cardboard & Co

Cardboard is lightweight, easy to process and even easier to recycle. What furniture makers discovered as a solid construction material for beds, tables, chairs and the like several years ago, does not stop short of toy producers today.

Any match in the European Cup can easily be “re-played” with this portable cardboard football table set, anytime, anywhere. Photo: Kickpack

The industry still makes most of its sales with plastic toys but shoppers’ increasing interest in toys made of cardboard paired with rising ecological requirements makes sales of cardboard-based play equipment soar, explains Ulrich Brobeil, General Manager of the Association of German Toy Manufacturers (Deutscher Verband der Spielwarenindustrie).

70% to 80% of this table football set is recyclable. Only the bars are made of wood. Photo: Kickpack

Toys for grown-ups

Houses, castles, boats – indeed table football and table tennis sets can these days all be made of cardboard. In the run-up to the 2016 European Cup demand for an original size table football set made of cardboard and affectionately called “Kartoni” rose noticeably, say Brunswick producer Kickpack. No wonder, because its reduced weight of just a few kilograms makes Kartoni flexible and swift to put up wherever people want to play – in the park, the garage, at the university, a bar or for a match amongst colleagues in the office.

Demand for the “Kartoni” table skyrocketed even weeks before the European Cup.

Cardboard can also be used as a construction material for other sports gear. Example: “Tennino” the table tennis counterpart of “Kartoni”.

The cardboard club.

Dream castles made of cardboard

Cardboard, however, is not only popular with “big kids” but also with little ones. It can be used to build castles, villages and whole landscapes. Cardboard can be painted with colours, folded, re-built and easily packed away when space gets scarce in the children’s rooms.

A village made of cardboard promotes creative playing. Photo: Calafant

Cardboard toys boast a high degree of flexibility. The creative assembly kits for these cardboard worlds were thought up by packaging developer and cartoonist Boris Schimanski from Bremen. With his company Calafant he built a complete cardboard cosmos delighting children of any age.