AbstractThe Cartoneras projects aim to promote the celebration of language, culture, and creativity through a collaboration between top literary minds and cardboard collectors in Buenos Aires and Lima. They produce and publish beautiful books with hand‐painted cardboard covers that speak of the wonderful literature inside. Inspired by those projects, the Paper Picker Press (PPP) program in Boston aims to engage higher‐order thinking through an arts‐based approach to rediscovering literature through play. PPP starts with the premise that a student who is thinking creatively is also thinking critically. Creative play is critical thinking.