Our 2013 Global Cardboard Challenge has come and gone, but what an amazing and rewarding weekend it was. The ingenuity and imagination of children never ceases to amaze me, and I am so fortunate and blessed to be in a position where I get to witness it first-hand each and every day.
During the two days of our Global Cardboard Challenge we saw over [insert attendance here] participants, all engaged in rediscovering the special creative play that comes from the simple cardboard box. One of my favorite highlights from the weekend was an awesome cardboard plane I watched a father and son team collectively build over the course of two hours, complete with spinning propeller. The plane went on to inspire many other children to attempt to build one of their own, and it was a delight watching other kids come and ask the child how the propeller worked.
During the two days of our Global Cardboard Challenge we saw over [insert attendance here] participants, all engaged in rediscovering the special creative play that comes from the simple cardboard box. One of my favorite highlights from the weekend was an awesome cardboard plane I watched a father and son team collectively build over the course of two hours, complete with spinning propeller. The plane went on to inspire many other children to attempt to build one of their own, and it was a delight watching other kids come and ask the child how the propeller worked.
The most powerful aspect of activities and events such as the Global Cardboard Challenge is how easy they are to facilitate, all you really have to do is collect the materials and tools and provide a space and the children will do the rest. Once one kid begins to build others want to participate and it just grows and grows. It’s amazing how quickly children move from parallel play to collaboration, and during our two day even we same many collaborations, from battling cardboard robots, to a wide variety of forts and play houses.
Participating in the Global Cardboard Challenge helped bring us back to the basics of what tinkering and creative making are all about. There is a delightful moment in Caine’s Arcade when Caine’s father George tells the story of how Caine wanted to buy a claw machine, and George suggests that he just build one, and Caine goes on to do just that, with some packing tape, a cardboard box, an S hook and a piece of yarn. As we focused on building our Makerspace over the last year and began developing programing for the space, it was easy to get caught up in the technology and tools, 3D printers, microcontrollers, motors and more, but at the heart of the Maker movement, and the idea of tinkering, is this simple idea of “What can I make from this?” The fancy tools are not required to facilitate an amazing maker experience; you’re perfectly equipped to do so with a simple cardboard box.
I hope all of our visitors over the weekend had as much fun participating in our Cardboard Challenge as we had hosting it. Please help spread the message of Caine’s Arcade and the Global Cardboard Challenge as we look to continue growing the movement in 2014.
For more information on Caine’s Arcade and work of the Imagination Foundation visit CardboardChallenge.com
Participating in the Global Cardboard Challenge helped bring us back to the basics of what tinkering and creative making are all about. There is a delightful moment in Caine’s Arcade when Caine’s father George tells the story of how Caine wanted to buy a claw machine, and George suggests that he just build one, and Caine goes on to do just that, with some packing tape, a cardboard box, an S hook and a piece of yarn. As we focused on building our Makerspace over the last year and began developing programing for the space, it was easy to get caught up in the technology and tools, 3D printers, microcontrollers, motors and more, but at the heart of the Maker movement, and the idea of tinkering, is this simple idea of “What can I make from this?” The fancy tools are not required to facilitate an amazing maker experience; you’re perfectly equipped to do so with a simple cardboard box.
I hope all of our visitors over the weekend had as much fun participating in our Cardboard Challenge as we had hosting it. Please help spread the message of Caine’s Arcade and the Global Cardboard Challenge as we look to continue growing the movement in 2014.
For more information on Caine’s Arcade and work of the Imagination Foundation visit CardboardChallenge.com