Clever kids make do
by Biome team • April 18, 2012 • DIY projects, eco kids, reusables • 27 Comments
A big shout out to Caine Monroy for inspiring other kids to get crafty and reuse! This great little story exploded on the internet recently and it’s spawned the best kind of copycat behaviour…the eco friendly kind. This creative nine year-old made his own arcade out of cardboard in his Dad’s used car parts store in LA. His elaborate work was undiscovered (with little foot traffic in the area), until a filmmaker stumbled across Caine’s Arcade looking for a car part! Watch this vid for the full story.
Caine’s story has inspired people around the world to donate over US$100,000 to an education fund for him, and to a foundation to help other entrepreneural kids http://cainesarcade.com/. On the Caine’s Arcade facebook page (www.facebook.com/cainesarcade) there are so many kids making their own re-used cardboard creations after watching the film.
All we could think about was that Caine and these kids could do with some MakeDo kits (we were thrilled to find out that the MakeDo company had already sent some Caine’s way)! The kits are perfect for child-safe play (no cutting little fingers accidentally with scissors) and no need for wasting sticky tape. The components can be used over and over for new projects!
Grab a MakeDo kit and show your kids the film. Let us know what amazing things they get up to!
We’ve got TWO super-duper 165 piece Makedo kits we’d like to give to away to aspiring eco-engineers. For your chance to win: (1) Follow our Biome blog by clicking on the Follow tab that appears in the bottom right of your screen, then (2) Tell us what your recipient will most likely create with a MakeDo kit! We’ll draw out two of the comments to win this prize! Competition ends at midnight on Wednesday, 25 April 2012. Australian residents only.
WINNERS ANNOUNCED :: Thank you everyone for sharing your great stories about children’s creativity. We put everyone’s name into a hat and drew out two. Congratulations to Jan and Francine!
Love that kids are stretching their minds to solve problems without relying on technology. I’ve followed the blog and I think my little engineer will probably build a Barbie house.
My son loves to follow in the footsteps of his father by creating new and useful items from recycled materials. I think if he had this kit he would make himself an interplanetary racetrack where he can challenge his lego creations against his match box cars.
A super castle to hide from the big dragons (aka mum and dad) is what my kids would want us to help them make
It would have doors and windows and hiding places (maybe even a moat and maze) and be so much fun they would keep on staying awake
(Have followed the biome blog)
My son would love to be an engineer when he’s older….so anything from bridges to buildings, his imagination is endless & of course he has the environment and sustainability in mind when he builds things around home.
I have two boys aged 2.5 and 4, together they love to go on adventures in our backyard among the big old trees down the back. At the moment they love to pretend to be pirates, so together we could make a pirate ship! Next week, a space shuttle and then after that an excavator… etc etc! (also don’t tell my husband, but, they love to make doll’s houses with our spare boxes… I’m sure the makedo would help keep them upright for longer!),
Thanks for all the lovely green tips!
My 7 year old girl is obsessively reading anything related to Star Wars at the moment so I imagine she’d make a spacecraft of some kind and my 4 year old girl is fascinated by dinosaurs and sharks so who knows what she’d come up with; probably a home for her pet giraffe.
I suspect our chief creator daughter would be instigating building a castle with her little brother in tow…
MakeDo is so cool!!!
My “little engineer” would be my 5 year old nephew Isaac, who has a burning ambition to be a builder (just like his uncle, my husband)! He loves to build houses, towers, and pretty much anything his incredibly creative little mind can think of, as long as he thinks he has the materials. I think MakeDo (and a good amount of the cardboard boxes I have sitting in my workshop) would result in erections that could almost make it onto the Grand Designs TV show
Its great that this kid is creative,but with all the use of sticky tape(not good for the environment when its made) the boxes now can’t be recycled! Making things from nature is far better,my son can be so creative just with some sticks,leaves and whatever he can find. We put it all back into nature when we are finished.
This is adorable!!
What a great story!
Master four already “copies” daddy’s work in an imaginary way so the MakeDo kit I expect would make a ladder and projector and little lamps to replace inside.
I have subscribed…looking forward to more great articles.
I imagine we will have a number of additions to our family with a MakeDo kit in our house – probably mostly dogs and dinosaurs but I expect the odd monster as well!
Wow – isn’t it amazing what kids can do when left to their own devices! My oldest son and daughter were quite bored in the last few days of holidays. Think “I’m Bo-o-o-o-ored Mum!” every 5 minutes, and all of a sudden they went quiet. Very, very quiet. I found them decorating a single small cardboard box with Textas. “It’s a car Mum!” “No it’s a house!” They played with that box for the next 3 days on and off and it became all sorts of things!
Hi Francine. Congratulations! You are one of the two winners of the Makedo kit. We put all the names in a hat and drew out two people. We will email you to get your postal address for the special delivery. Thank you very much everyone for sharing your great comments!
My son has to make an alien for school news so that’s likely to be the first project, then I reckon it would be robots galore!
Too much fun to just keep at home ..
We would DONATE to our local school for the prep classes to use for many years to come !
(Though we might just HAVE to try it at home once first just to make sure it really does work)
My grade 1 class would love to put recycling into action and use Makedo to create mini beasts to match their learning this term. How exciting to be able to build again and again and again! Learning about the design of nature, efficient design technology and sustainability at the same time … wow!
Who knows what he would create!! That’s the beauty of it – a castle, truck, giant flying monster, it’s limitless!
My son would most likely create a fortress that would cover the entire dining room. He’s done it before with cardboard boxes but the problem is that he couldn’t really use scissors that were strong enough to cut through the cardboard and having to rip it, it was put in the recycling bin instead of reused again. The beauty of this makedo is that it is reusable but allows the materials to be reused too! Would also eliminate the need for rolls and rolls of sticky tape. I can pretty well guarantee he would first make a castle/fortress to either play with his sister in, or lock her out of. Then it would probably be on to robots, vehicles, and maybe a system to create chain reactions with balls and levers etc.
My little engineer loves anything space related and would probably be building spaceships in record time with little Martians to fly them!
Love the eco creativity! My kit would be used in my schools library. Everyday kids come in and draw and use the construction toys. I’m always encouraging the kids to be environmentally aware and i am constantly awed with their creativity. The beauty would be watching what would evolve, especially after the kids watch Caine’s movie.
I have two little ladies who love all things fairy tale so I’m certain a princess castle would be featured somewhere!
Love these Makedo kits. As nana to 4 gorgeous, lively, imaginative grandchildren I know the cardboard box and all sorts of other recycled materials are essentials in any grandparents kit. My grandies would add to their shop and the railway city they are constantly making. Maybe there would be a little less ‘NANA! Cut this for me please, hold this, tape that.’
Nana Jan
Hi Jan. Congratulations! You are one of the two winners of the Makedo kit. We put all the names in a hat and drew out two people. We will email you to get your postal address for the special delivery. Thank you very much everyone for sharing your great comments!
Our little girl isn’t yet 18 months, but with an engineer father, an environmental scientist mother, and a love of stacking together sticks, cardboard, bottles or whatever she can find around the place, she is already on the way to being an eco-engineer. She would love to make a big tower with opening doors and windows to hide things in.
My little girl would likely create a bed or house for one of her darlings! This is the name she gives to her dolls and she pretends to be the Mama.
Three girls (twins @ 7yo & a 4yo) that play / invent / create all sorts of things. Their imaginations are endless. What would they make ………… depends on the day ……………… hmmmmmm …………………. honestly could not tell you till it’s done (’cause plans do change along the way too), but they never cease to amaze me