Muldown students get creative with cardboard

Give a fourth-grader a cardboard box, a pair of scissors, some tape, and a little bit of free time and you’ll watch their imagination blossom.

Students at Muldown Elementary recently spent a few hours repurposing cardboard as part of the Global Cardboard Challenge, a worldwide initiative challenging kids to use their imaginations to create unique cardboard creations.

Teacher Sherri Sadino stood in front of a table full of supplies — cardboard tubes, twine, rubber balls, paper, stickers, pipe cleaners and more — and told her students to use whatever they wanted. The students had just finished watching a video about a youngster who created his own cardboard arcade, and the Muldown students working in pairs were about to create their own games.

“If we don’t have what you need, then be creative,” Sadino instructed.

The students grabbed cardboard boxes and tubes and even a pizza box to construct the base for their games. Then they glued and taped the parts and pieces to make those blank structures into working games. Finally, some added stickers and glitter.

All the while, students were working together to figure out how to construct their game and finding ways to improvise.

That’s what one pair of students did in constructing a small foosball game using little green Army men. When they ran out of wooden dowels for the cross arms, they switched to markers.

Adeline Taylor and Gustavo Chace stacked two large boxes together to create a gum ball machine.

They cut a slit in the front for tickets to be inserted, and carved a hole to hold a cardboard roll where gum balls roll out into the customer’s hand.

They also added an open/closed sign, and a plastic cup with googly eyes for a security camera.

Once they had finished, student customers were invited to try out the machine.

As customers approached, Chace crawled behind the stacked boxes that stood about 4 feet tall. Taylor assisted as the customer inserted a ticket in the bottom box. Chace then reached his arm into the top box and pushed a pumpkin candy through the tube to the customer.

After the candy rolled successfully into the hands of their first customer, Taylor and Chace shared a celebratory high-five.

The annual Cardboard Challenge was inspired by Caine Monroy, a 9-year-old who spent his summer vacation constructing an elaborate cardboard arcade inside his dad’s auto parts store. A filmmaker visited the arcade and made a short film about Monroy that went viral.

Suddenly, hundreds of people were waiting to play and donating to a college fund for Monroy. It eventually developed into the Cardboard Challenge that asks communities and schools to celebrate creativity. More than 100,000 kids now take part each year.

Sadino recently learned about the Cardboard Challenge at a training day and knew she wanted to bring it to the fourth graders at Muldown.

Prior to making their arcade games, the students had to draw a blueprint for what they wanted to make. The day of the challenge they had to figure out how to make their idea a reality.

Sadino said the lesson uses the principals of STEM education — science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

“I want to see how they use their imagination,” she said. “I want them to be actively thinking and problem solving. This is project-based learning that gives them the chance to do that.”

Sadino said a few students were hesitant at first asking if it was OK to do this or that, but she told them this has no wrong answer.

“Once they get over the fear of what the teacher is expecting, then they go for it,” she said.