The Great Cardboard City Build-Off
A large-scale construction activity involving teamwork to design and build habitable structures or vehicles from recycled materials, promoting physical assembly and engineering.
- Takes
- 1–2 hr
- Your setup
- 15 min prep
- Ages
- Ages 3–10
- Mess
- Some mess
- Cost
- $
- Where
- Indoors
How to do it
- 1Decide on a joint theme (e.g., space station, castle, neighborhood).
- 2Distribute the cardboard and assigned building tasks (e.g., 'You build the roof, I'll build the walls').
- 3Focus on stability. Use strong tape to secure all seams and joints, moving around and inside the structure as it develops.
- 4Once built, dedicate time to painting and decorating the exterior and interior.
- 5Test the structure's integrity by having everyone enter and interact with the creation.
What they're practising
- Engineering Principles
- Large-Scale Construction
- Imagination
- Collaborative Design