Kids display creative talent with unique cardboard arcade games

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Students at Robert Ogilvie Elementary School displayed their creative talents with a cardboard games fair. 

On March 5th, students came to the school’s gym from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. to enjoy the games they had built from cardboard.

According to the school’s principal, Christine Todd, the activity is an opportunity for students in grades four to six to be creative.

“[The students] really love it and it teaches them a lot of things creativity,” Todd explains.

“They have to come up with a design, they have to come up with a game that works.” 

Students were tasked with creating their own games and given total freedom in how the game operates. 

“The kids come up with the games themselves so they have free reign to make up any kind of game, they have to also say how to play the game and what the rules are,” says Todd. 

During the event, the students presented creative games such as plinko, miniature billiards and a working claw machine. 

Todd says she got the idea for the activity from a video on YouTube called Caine’s Arcade, which shows a boy creating several games out of cardboard.  

“I saw that, and I thought it would be a really good idea for kids to do a hands-on project, for them to do that was really interesting,” Todd says. 

Todd also says the activities are a great way for older students to interact with the younger grades. 

“What I love most about it is when the primary students come through so that the older kids have that chance to talk with the little kids and show them how things work and interact with them so it gives them a little bit of a leadership role,” says Todd.