Fall Feast

It's picnic time at invention squad!

This week, we asked our students to design a transportable food system for an outdoor picnic. This industrial design challenge may seem pedestrian at first sight- especially for those of us who have to scrape leftovers from a school lunchbox every evening. You might think that a picnic basket is just a box with a handle, but in the hands of a set of eager kid inventors there are many interesting possibilities for innovation.

How to make it easy to transport? Could it be eco-friendly? How could we adapt it for special types of food? Could it be multifunctional? The prototypes ranged from wild : a water delivery mechanism with personal waterfalls to serve food on boats to each picnicker) to pragmatic: a dipping tub for fries with personal lidded sauce containers (above).

Sometimes the picnic carriers were specially designed for a particular food: take this subway baguette carrier made by one team.

Or this sandwich holder- which looks as stylish as a brief case.

Each picnicker gers a personal noodle pod (sealed with a clip). This design demonstrated a clever use of materials and emphasized the modular nature of picnics.

Some of our inventors combined functionality with visual impact. This team's sandwich holder had two interlocking layers creating many different compartments and a very unified aesthetic.

This young designer did a great job making many different receptacles for different food items and we like the washable face on the food tray which adds a playful element to a kids' picnic.

Some designers considered portability and opted to add wheels to their prototypes to create pull along picnic carriers.

…..and if all else fails why not turn your picnic basket into a potential animal trap for the ultimate BBQ?

Lunchbox!

One of our workshops this week was about form and function. We posed the question: is it time to redesign the school lunchbox?

Could it be easier to transport? Could it be more eco-friendly? Could it be adapted for other types of food? Could it be multifunctional?

This industrial design challenge may seem pedestrian at first sight- especially for those of us who have to scrape leftovers from a school lunchbox every evening. You might think that a lunchbox is just a box with a handle, but in the hands of a set of eager kid inventors there are many interesting possibilities for lunchbox innovation.

Consider the eco-lunchbox. It comes with a lidded rain-catcher (in case you forgot to fill your water bottle) and in sunny conditions you can use the solar panel for re-heating food. In another design, the students felt that lunch was sometimes too heavy to carry. What about a food buggy. It has a colourful cupcake holder (6 slots, so you can bring cakes for all your friends), a flexible sandwich pouch, a snap clipped rain cover and has a robust frame and wheels for street transport.

In some of the designs, the lunchbox was transformed into something else: a racing car (with a zipped closure) or a table with mounted plate to eat on or an extra pouch for a friendly lunch buddy.

At the end of the session, we had demo time. This is a chance for our students to show their designs and get some great feedback from their friends. They did an excellent job of describing their creations!