Breckenridge Texan

At South Elementary, the library was recently turned into a temporary arcade showcasing the handiwork that the school’s sixth graders created during their MakerSpace time each week.

South Elementary students play Whack-a-Mole in the library’s temporary arcade. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/ Breckenridge Texan)

Each week, groups of sixth grade students visit the library to take part in the MakerSpace program, which allows the kids to use a variety of tools and materials to create projects.

Last year, South librarian Abby Moore had the idea to do a cardboard arcade after she saw a documentary at cainesarcade.com. The film is the true story of a little boy in California who built a cardboard arcade in his dad’s shop. After a filmmaker visited the shop and saw the arcade, he made a documentary about it. The film, “Caine’s Arcade,” went viral and inspired a scholarship fund, a nonprofit organization and the Global Cardboard Challenge. More details are available on the website listed above.

“We bought some tools — safety saws/cutters — in late spring in preparation and began collecting cardboard at school this summer,” Moore said in an email. “I showed the students the documentary in early September, and we started right away.  They formed groups and were given cutters to use, a ton of cardboard, and one roll of duct tape per group.  The local Lions Club donated $100 toward our duct tape.”

In total, each class had six half-hour sessions to complete their projects, as well as three after-school work opportunities.  The rules were as follows:

• All construction had to be completed at school
• All construction had to be completed with the materials provided.  Other material was allowed, but only if they brought the items to the school themselves.
• Games were judged before opening the arcade and a winner for each homeroom was chosen.  The engineers responsible for the winning games helped run the arcade on the days it was open.
• Games were judged on functionality, innovation, and level of difficulty.  Appearance was not a big factor in the judging.

• Blind Box –Overall Best in Show and Classroom winner for Krista Wilcox’s Homeroom
• Fish Away — Classroom winner for Rebecca Houchin’s Homeroom
• Aiming Game — Classroom winner for Lee Ann McCormick’s Homeroom
• Skee Ball Elite — Classroom winner for Brandon Jeffcoat’s Homeroom
• Penalty Shootout — Classroom winner for April Hughes’ Homeroom
• Basketball — Classroom winner for Deedra Boaz’s Homeroom
• Whack-a-Mole — Honorable mention for Rebecca Houchin’s Homeroom
• Skee Ball — Honorable mention for Lee Ann McCormick’s Homeroom
• Corn Hole — Honorable mention for Brandon Jeffcoat’s Homeroom
• Skee Ball Pro — Honorable mention for April Hughes’ Homeroom
• The Turtle Ring Toss — Honorable mention for Krista Wilcox’s Homeroom
• Baseball — Honorable mention for Deedra Boaz’s Homeroom

Cutline, top photo and photos below: South Elementary students visited the school’s library recently to play the cardboard arcade games created by sixth graders as part of a MakerSpace project. (Photos by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)