Groovy Grub

Can-cheese Flag Logo for Nate's Cheeses

We enter the market area. Dappled sunlight is glinting through the trees around us. What shall we eat today? So many different choices at Nate's Cheeses. I look at the fondue stall. The pots of steaming cheese with crusty bread look so good. My cousin is at a different stall: she's picking out a five cheese personal pizza. Our dad's given us $10 each to spend and we're meeting at the long trestle tables in the middle when we have our food. It's busy here- but I see a waitress dressed in orange, clearing a space for us. We finish our food so quickly. Why do grown-ups eat sooo slowly? My dad sends us to the running track. We burn off those cheese calories in no time at all.

In our class this week, the kids came up with an eatery concept and used their layout to tell the story of a visit to their restaurant. Some of them designed logos and acted out advertisements to show off the theme and special features of their restaurant. Others invented menus and staff uniforms.

Visiting a restaurant-is a social sensory experience. When we walk in, we anticipate the yummy food, take in the decor, the ambience, the other customers. As restaurant designers, we are imagining a customer experience.

This is design in four dimensions with various touch points over time:

What happens when we walk in? What do we see? What is the layout and decor like?

Walk down the cobblestone path into the Paradise Cafe. At the doorway, we are greeted by two servers with giant bird wings. They guide us through the lush forest-like setting, past a swinging lemur and cawing parrots to our picnic table.

What is the setting for the restaurant and how will that affect our experience?

The Tropicolo Cafe is located in a beautiful Caribbean bay. Sitting on the outdoor seating platform (on stilts and flooring, made of local hard wood) we look out at a wonderful ocean view with banana palms and coconut fronds encircling our hut. We feel relaxed as the sun begins to set and the soft glow from tiki lamps surrounds us.

At the Restaurant on the Rails, we're on the move! We enjoy a "very fancy" meal whilst watching the scenery whizz by. Swivel chairs and large windows allow us to take in the view from the ultra-modern bullet train.

What food will be on offer and how does the look of the restaurant mesh with this?

The Buffet of Dessertness is "shaped like a doughnut without the hole in it"

How do we place our order?

As we take our seat at Into the Future motion sensors snap on an illuminated touch screen menu on your table top. Each of us punches in our automated order and robots bring the food to our tables.

At the Buffet of Dessertness we can sample the desserts using a scratch and sniff menu. Small tubes linked to tiny drink pouches, let us try out the drink selection too!

What will the restaurant workers do and what is their workplace like?

At the Pink Elephant Cafe delicious Indian food is served by baby elephants! Each elephant is wearing a dazzling pink and red uniform, with Indian embroidery, beading and tassels and shiny booties.  (Toronto Public Health are of course just fine with this).

The masked servers at the Ninja Restaurant are surprisingly polite with customers. 

Is this a good place to hangout with friends and family?

At the Paradise Cafe we can take in an animal show after our meal. Kids get to sit on the long comfy sofa up front.

A cow-fork jumps over the moon at Sueleh's All Day Meals.

Thanks to local restaurant  Sweet Lulu for providing us menu and logo samples to look at.

Life in the trees

One of our challenges this week was to plan and build an animal treehouse. After picking a creature -real or mythical, the kids started off by drafting a plan. This was a 2D bird's eye view or a side view. Every creature needs a good lookout and somewhere to stash their food, so we encouraged the addition of windows, doors, connecting stairs or corridors and furniture to define the different rooms.

                                         Here are some of the ideas:

This dragon den includes a surround view flying dome.

Many of the plans had modular components connected by tunnels. 

These lucky ants have an amusement park on hand.

"Hang-outs" featured prominently on many of the plans. 

This locust house has a hotel add-on for guests. 

This rabbit tree-warren connects to the ground-level burrow and has a nursery area for baby rabbits. 

A multi-level cat treehouse with climb zone, scratch post walkways and a relaxing lounge. 

Alternative sketches for hanging squirrel dens

At the end of this landscaping session we challenged the kids to transform their blueprint into a 3D model of their treehouse. Architectural prototyping requires spatial perception, mathematical thinking and basic crafting skills. Offering a limited selection of found materials to build with (in this case picnic ware: plates, cups, forks, spoons and coffee stirrers) makes this modelling task a little trickier. It requires exploration of how the materials connect, flex and balance. As play-doh and tape were involved, also a lot of fun!

Some students enjoyed experimenting with the materials to move beyond their 2D plans :

How high can this squirrel house possibly go? 

This student decided to plan an underwater treehouse. Here's her fish fountain. 

A cascading slide will connect the swim layers.

Ramps and spring-boards featured in this attractive squirrel-drome. Interesting geometry!

Construction team.

Working it out together

Feb. 13th PA day: Monster Madness

Join us for a day of monstrous creativity, hands-on fun and laughter.  

WHO: age 7-12 yr. old kids

WHAT: Unleash your own inner monster. Create a fabulous new mutant in our creature-remix workshop and plan a monster hideout. In the afternoon we visit a local professional Monster Designer.

WHEN: Friday,13th February 9am-4pm (extended care to 5: 30pm for $10 more)

WHERE: Invention Studio at 833 King Street West and in the neighbourhood. Pick up between 8:45 and 9:00 am from the ground floor of Niagara Street Public School.

COST: $45 (please send an electronic transfer to info@inventionsquad.ca or bring a cheque made payable to Amanda Pickup on the morning of Feb 13th).

BRING: A nut-free lunch and comfortable gear for our outdoor field trip.  

SIGN UP: Send us an email (info@inventionsquad.ca) to let us know you are interested, the name and age of your child, and your contact info. We will send you a waiver and medical forms.

Invention Squad will provide all materials and tools for this class.

To find out more about Invention Squad, take a look at our website: www.inventionsquad.ca

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!

Once upon a hat

In our Once upon a hat class, we worked with 6-7 year olds to imagine fantastical hats

                                            Why make this?

When you could make these?