This Is the Perfect Tool for Cardboard-Obsessed Kids

My seven-year-old daughter, Hazel, was born for arts and crafts. She’s happiest when she’s making something with her hands, whether she’s painting rocks on the front porch, sewing an outfit for her American Girl dolls, or making pony bead bracelets with her friends. But her favorite craft activity, hands down, is creating things out of cardboard. 

She’s used cardboard to make a school bus, a food truck, and a cat house (the cat took one look and, sensing a trap, ran the other way). But anyone who’s tried to cut a cardboard box into specific shapes knows that it’s not easy, and those projects required more than a little assistance from Mom and Dad, so we recently invested in a tool that allows Hazel’s cardboard dreams to come true while giving us a little peace. It’s called the ChompSaw, and it’s a total game changer for our craft-obsessed kiddo.

A kid-safe power tool that cuts through cardboard like a warm knife through butter, the ChompSaw is a smallish box (about 1 square foot) with a cutting surface on top. Below the cutting surface, there’s space for the power cord. There’s also a little drawer that catches the cardboard shavings, which can be tossed in the recycling bin. It’s one little unit that tucks away on the craft shelf easily when it’s not in use.

To use the ChompSaw, you simply connect the power cord, plug it in, and push the button to turn it on. After it heats up for a few seconds, it’s ready to chomp through cardboard. The surface on top has helpful lines, curves, and angles that kids can follow so they can create specific shapes. The cutting element is in the center of the cutting surface, and it’s small enough so that fingers can’t get cut, and it’s designed so that hair and loose clothing won’t get sucked in (though it’s always best to wear hair back and clothing that’s appropriate for crafting). The ChompSaw also came with a scoring tool, for making folds, and a hole punch, which allows kids to cut shapes and slits inside a piece of cardboard.

The first time we used the ChompSaw, Hazel was a little intimidated by the noise. (For context, she’s one of the many kids who won’t use those hot air hand dryers in public bathrooms because they’re too loud.) But after a few minutes, she hardly noticed the sound because she was too busy cutting cardboard boxes into a million pieces. (If your kid is very bothered by the noise, you could try noise-canceling headphones.) 

There was a small learning curve, during which Hazel and I figured out the ideal speed and force for maneuvering cardboard in the machine, and after that, she was happy to go on without me … for hours. After about 15 minutes of getting the hang of the machine, she spent the rest of the afternoon making a display shelf for her collection of Mini Brands while I … did nothing? Looked at my phone? I’m not really sure, but the point is that I wasn’t running in the room every five minutes to cut a new cardboard shape, because she could do it herself!

At $250, the ChompSaw is definitely an investment, but for stuff like this, I like to think about cost per use, or even better, cost per hour of independent play. With that framing, getting a ChompSaw was a no-brainer for us. Plus, it also cuts paper, card stock, and fabric, which means we can use it on all sorts of other crafts and school projects.

Finally, my good kitchen scissors can stay safe (and sharp) in the drawer because Hazel has a tool she can use to cut whatever cardboard shapes she can dream up. The feeling of empowerment is awesome for her, and all that free time is pretty great for me, too.

Buy it: ChompSaw, $250