Christmas Eve Dinner Recycled in Class

My mom is Italian. Every Christmas Eve she make a huge fish dinner.  This year, it was literally a HUGE fish dinner.  The whole sea bass came in an enormous styrofoam box.

Now what my husband sees as more trash...I see as a wonderful learning center!
I brought the box into school, set out some wooden sticks and a few wooden hammers and the children have been loving pounding the "nails" into the box.

I assumed they would leave it flat and pound only from the top.  But young children never cease to amaze me.  They like to hold the box upright, so children on one side are pounding the sticks in and at the SAME TIME, children on the other side are pounding the sticks that have already been pounded- out!

The cooperative play and problem solving, not to mention the fine motor work that this one box is providing is amazing.

 Almost as amazing as my mom's dinner.