Opening the box is only the start.

First Steps

The four sides of the box open out and lie flat on the floor as a mat. The inside surfaces have different textures: embossed paper, felt, a strip of linen, smooth card. A crawling baby explores them with their hands; a baby pulling up to stand explores them with their soles.

1. Open the slot joints at the corners of the box.
2. Lay the mat on a flat floor, textured side up.
3. Let your baby move freely on the mat, barefoot.

Printed on it: High-contrast black-and-white patterns and the hills of Monte Urano

First Steps · Early Walker

On the outside of the blue lid there is a footprint and a 0–20 cm ruler, and along the side of the box runs a “Misura · Foot measurer” strip: rest your child’s heel against the wall and you can measure their foot. Inside, the lid is a blank page: at every measurement, trace around the foot and write down the date and the length. Over the years, the nested footprints become a keepsake.

1. Stand the box against the wall, with your child’s heel touching the wall.
2. Read the ruler line where the longest toe ends.
3. Trace around the foot inside the lid, and write down the date and the length.
4. Scan the QR code to add the measurement to the foot passport.

Printed on it: A footprint, a ruler, the words “A little bigger with every step” and a QR code

First Steps · Early Walker

A terracotta-coloured roof for a lid, white walls, windows and a door that opens. The walls are left blank for painting: your child writes their name and draws trees and flowers. Once the shoes are out, the house becomes the place for small toys and the first shoes.

1. Take out the shoes, then open the door and windows along the dotted lines.
2. Paint the walls with crayons or watercolours.
3. Close the roof, and the house becomes a storage box.

Printed on it: Only the outlines of the door and windows; the rest is left to the child

Early Walker · Explorer

A navy suitcase, with a rope handle, leather-look corners and a name tag. It carries labels for Istanbul, Rome, Paris and Monte Urano. Every new pair brings a new city label, so the suitcase “travels” along with your child. The name tag has room for your child’s name and your family number.

1. Thread the handle through the holes in the top of the box and tie it.
2. Fill in the name tag.
3. Stick on the city label that comes with each new pair.

Printed on it: City labels, a name tag and a “Famiglia No.” field

Early Walker

A carriage with a red lid, a cream body and four cardboard wheels. Every new pair arrives in the next carriage: Vagone No.2, No.3… The carriages link together, and over the years they make a train of your child’s shoe sizes.

1. Fit the wheels into the slots on the sides.
2. Open the hooks at the front and back of the carriage.
3. When a new carriage arrives, link them with the hooks.

Printed on it: The carriage number and the size of the shoe inside

Explorer

The green lid has twelve pits: turn it over and it becomes a board for mangala, the Turkish version of mancala. Inside the box there is a cotton pouch filled with 48 seed stones and a card with the rules of the game. The Mangala page of the Play Atlas opens from the QR code in the box.

1. Turn the lid over and put it on a table.
2. Put four stones from the pouch into each pit.
3. Read the rules card, or watch the video from the QR code.

Printed on it: 12 pits and 2 stores on the lid; a rules card inside

Explorer

The lid, base and inner dividers of the box become six stepping stones to lay out on the floor. Each stone has a footprint and a task: one foot, two feet, heels, tiptoes. Your child builds their own course, and the box becomes a different game every day.

1. Separate the pieces of the box along the dotted lines.
2. Lay the stones on the floor, a step apart.
3. Cross the course, doing the task on each stone.

Printed on it: Footprints and task symbols