Cardboard Challenge 2016: More Awesome Than Ever

Cardboard Challenge 2016: More Awesome than Ever | For our 2016 Cardboard Challenge, my students went all out. Our cardboard cutters were buzzing, the hot glue guns were all in use. There were all sorts of amazing creations being built all around.

Our 2016 Cardboard Challenge

We’ve been doing the Cardboard Challenge at Stewart every year since we first started our makerspace in 2014.  See our 2014 challenge here and our 2015 challenge here.  Our challenge is inspired by the YouTube video, Caine’s Arcade and the Global Cardboard Challenge.  Every year we start the challenge by watching the video and then I let my students dig in to the cardboard I’ve been hoarding for months.  They certainly rose to the challenge this year.

Cardboard projects at work
Cardboard projects at work

Organizing a Cardboard Challenge

I save cardboard for months ahead of our cardboard challenge.  I keep it organized in our Maker Room on a makeshift cart I created (see image in this post).  During the challenge, I make several glue guns available, at least three to four Skil cardboard cutters, and tons of packing tape.  My students also love acyrlic paint, recycled materials like bottle caps, and lots of glitter 🙂  I keep all of these supplies freely available so that students can easily get what they want.

The working cardboard ATM. Insert a credit card and it spits out money.
The working cardboard ATM. Insert a credit card and it spits out money.

Examples of Student Projects

  • Robot armor
  • A Batman costume
  • Cardboard ATM
  • Cardboard Laptop
  • Storm shelter
  • Cardboard confetti cannon
  • A cardboard board game, complete with rules and a LEGO spinner
The cardboard laptop, complete with a QWERTY keyboard.
The cardboard laptop, complete with a QWERTY keyboard.

Connecting with Others

Every year, I love to find opportunities to connect my students with other schools and give them an authentic audience.  This year, we connected with students at The Stokie School in Winnetka, IL.  You can read about it in my AASL Knowledge Quest article.  My students had an awesome time and were super excited to share all about their projects.

The cardboard confetti cannon and the cardboard board game
The cardboard confetti cannon and the cardboard board game

Have you ever held a Cardboard Challenge with your students?  What kinds of projects did they create?

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