Design-a-thon 2014

Invention Squad ran this year's Design-a-thon at Niagara St. PS.

A team of talented designers ran hour-long workshops throughout the school to give the grade students a whole day of hands-on challenges. 

In the Fancy Footwear workshop, the kids designed and constructed their own shoes out of paper and glue. Students were asked to incorporate four different methods of creating strength using just these very limited materials. The kids made some amazing footwear- both fancy and functional!

The Critterville workshop challenged kids to build an animal home from picnic wear (plastic cutlery,  foam cups, paper plates, straws and coffee stirrers). The students explored how to join materials in novel ways to shape and stabilize their structure. We asked them to do this with no glue and as little tape as possible. This encouraged them to think about strength, balance and material manipulation-all critical  qualities for architects and builders. Despite the fact that kids love tape, some of them rose to this engineering puzzle! 

In Logomania, the students learnt some of the elements of graphic design and branding. They came up with vibrant pen drawings of logos for the Toronto Zoo, the Design-a-thon itself and Invention Squad.

In the Mouse House workshop students explored paper engineering to make pop-up houses. Many of them enjoyed painting their pictures in exuberant colours.

Robot Design was a very free-form workshop run by Walnut Studios and a couple of volunteer OCAD students. Students animated found materials to create a whole range of charming robots.

In the Skyscrapers workshop the design challenge was to build the tallest structure possible out of construction paper. Some of the groups formed teams and turned this into a competition. Students were introduced to concepts of mass, tension and compression and how to mitigate these using trussing and cross-bracing.  

Invention Squad would like to thank all the fabulous designers, volunteers and school staff who made this fun event possible!!

Evil Geniuses

This week the design challenge was to build a contraption that can fling a boulder across the room.

from http://silverhawkauthor.com/book-siegecraft-no-fortress-impregnable_279.html

The Grade 5 and 6 students worked on constructing siege catapults (Roman Mangonel style). These required a very sturdy base and vertical support-no trivial matter when all you have to use is craft sticks clothes pegs and tape. The throwing arm was levered to the base with a bull clip fulcrum and stretched back with an elastic band. Pull the arm back and fling! Launch your foil boulder into the air.

Some of our budding engineers managed to improve their catapults-Elizabeth suggested more robust materials like wood and nails, Joseph and Jabeez worked out how to truss their structure. Zachary modified his catapult by adding a pull back tab and noticed that the angle of release and the size of the boulder affects how high and far it goes.

To build a prototype, test it, evaluate and improve it, is part of the design spiral we are teaching the kids.  In this workshop, the kids followed a set design plan, but then refined their catapults to improve their function.

from http://discoverdesign.org/design/process

Meantime the Grade 3 and 4 kids were evil geniuses in revolt. They decided to modify balloon slingshots into their own more exciting creations. Reinventing the workshop on the spot. There was a decadent looking "hugging slingshot" designed by Elektra, which spurred on the other kids to make crossbows and various catapult accoutrements.

Spooktacular Light Design

This week we made fantastic light designs. We challenged the kids to do this using only foil, pipe cleaners and a hand held torch or a string of fairy lights. By constraining the materials available, we forced them to explore the possibilities and limits of what you can do with foil -squish it, mould it, fold it, fan it, puncture it etc.






When we turned off the lights in the studio, the fun began. There was lots of exploration of the qualities that foil might contribute to the design- whether the light is reflected by it, passing through a space in it or distorted by an edge of it.

The pipe-cleaners were sometimes used to sculpt a beautiful illuminated object  (like the wire light sabre at the top) or this intricate fairy garden design below.

Sometimes the interplay between the light and the shadow it cast animated its surroundings. Some of the kids were fascinated by this idea and designed intricate shadow boxes and light projectors.   

One wire sculpture evolved into a carnival  over the course of the class, with a dinosaur, two riders and dangling shapes casting a playful scene onto the wall.  Another, a green bear shadow maker.


This flower-like projection (above) was developed, by moulding the foil onto the face of the torch and experimenting with the effects at different angles.

One design team decided to pursue a Halloween theme.  Here is their iridescent pumpkin parade (left).

It took serious collaboration to come up with this installation!

Designing Play Workshop

What if...

…your playground was sushi-themed, with sticky rice trampolines, nori slides, a dual level cucumber monkey bar and a springboard salmon ramp for the swimming pool.

…your playground was a sports deck (exclusively for Grade 6 students) with a basketball court, a giant minecraft climbing tower and a skateboard park.                    

….you could climb on the roof maze, before landing on a giant rotating wheel.  And if you make it along the monkey bar maze, you can stop at the video game station.  

..... you could use your stick token in the hunger game jungle maze (as long as you promise not to kill anyone)

... you enter your playground through a giant squirming snake tunnel

... there are real monkeys on the monkey bars and a petting zoo on the upstairs play deck

... there was a roller-coaster connecting different parts of the playground.

... you could go fishing during recess

... there was an electronics centre in the playground

... or there was a slide from the upper deck down to a trampoline on the lower deck???

Invention squad has redesigned the school playground!  In this week's workshop the emphasis was on 2D drafting. We encouraged everyone to design beyond traditional play structures and you can see some of the ideas above. At the end of this landscaping session we challenged the kids to transform their blueprint into a 3D model of the playground.  This kind of quick cardboard modelling is an exercise in form, function and scaling and can be tricky.  It requires spatial perception, mathematical thinking and basic crafting skills.

Designing Play Workshop (pre)

Playground Design: next week we’ll be asking the kids to redesign their own school playground.  

Our typical idea of a playground is maybe something like the play structure on the upper deck (only nicer).  Maybe something like the Trinty Bellwoods playground?  

But we’ll be trying to think outside the box a little.  Our jumping off point could be some of the better play spaces in Toronto: a dynamic playground like the sandpit water area in Dufferin Park Grove, one that incorporates natural features like the slide hill in Corktown Commons one that makes cultural references to its setting- like Canoe Landing Park or a design that employs colour, sound and light like the brand new June Callwood park (check it out down by the waterfront). 

There’s really a world of possibilities when you take inspiration from abroad.  I love the use of recycled tires at the Tire Koen in Japan.  Kids roll/slide/stack the tires and often times the adults get involved too.

Our Invention Squad kids will start off with a scale cardboard platform of the two layered playground at their school.  That’s the constraint.  After that anything goes. We’ll provide recycled paper and cardboard for them to build their fantasy playground. Let’s see what they come up with!

Toy Struck Workshop

Our first challenge in the after-school workshop was to build a prototype toy design for a young child. The kids dived straight into heaps of recycled cardboard plastic and fabric materials to make their toy designs. We set them a challenge to think about the senses-touch, texture, sound and colour- and they made exploratoriums, cars, rattles, snow mixers and sensory books.

image from http://dthsg.com

     

Our aim in this class, was to get the kids comfortable with constructing a prototype. In this session they were given a broad selection of materials to use and these objects themselves suggest ideas to the kids. In other sessions we will try a more deliberative planning approach with draft drawings or team brainstorming. Different methods suit different children, but we want them to experience them all and come up with some cool ideas whilst they do that.