On Friday morning the kids and I went along to fab little event that was part of Caine’s Arcade Cardboard Challenge from the Imagination Foundation. It was a free event and part of a worldwide day where kids and adults alike where encouraged to build constructions using cardboard, recycled materials, and imagination.
The Imagination Foundation’s mission is to find, foster, and fund creativity and entrepreneurship in kids.
The Imagination Foundation was formed by the creative team behind Caine’s Arcade, an 11-minute short film by Nirvan Mullick about a 9-year-old boy’s cardboard arcade. Posted online April, 9th, 2012, the film became a global phenomenon, receiving over 7 million views, raising a scholarship fund for Caine, and inspiring a wave of cardboard creativity around the world.
Makedo hosted the Melbourne event. Makedo make connectors for creating things using the materials around you.
When we arrived we registered, had a quick lesson on how to use Makedo. Then we were give a tool to use and cup full of connectors.
There were a stack of old cardboard boxes for the kids to choose for their creation. The theme was to build a maze, through which everyone’s creations could be joined.
The kids loved working inside the boxes, just as much as they did on the outside.
One of the friendly staff from Makedo showed Miss 8 how to make the job of cutting a window in the cardboard a bit easier. Using the pointy part of the tool, you make a series of holes outlining the window.
You can then cut through them starting at the top and working downwards.
This technique made it so much easier to cut the window flap.
It was such a hive of activity and the kids really thought about how we could make our design as stable as possible.
We have been reading The Indian In The Cupboard series, so our creation had a teepee element to it inspired from the books.
We couldn’t stay until the end of the session, but the kids loved their time creating and we arrived home later that day.
Makedo were photographing and filming on the day, so we are looking forward to see how the maze turned out.
Have you been making stuff these school holidays?