In 2005, the cardboard box was inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame.

Children and cats alike have enjoyed the unexplainable fun of a cardboard box. Cardboard was first invented in the 1600s by the Chinese, presumably because they got bored of playing with gunpowder hundreds of years before the rest of the world. The cardboard box first came around in 1817, by the English.

Initially, cardboard was used for the lining in men’s hats, and later to cushion glassware. By 1879, the first efficient cardboard box would come around. Gradually, they would replace wooden crates in numerous ways. Then children learned of cardboard’s usefulness for playing. Because the cardboard box has become an infinite gateway to the imagination, it earned its place in the Toy Hall of Fame in 2005.

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