Put on your thinking cap and join the Extraordinaires Inventions class at Camp Discover. At the beginning of Day One, students received their Extraordinaire character, a unique character who has extraordinary needs, and randomly picked a project. Maddy B.’s character was a giant for whom she needed to design a gift. Oren T. ended up with a pirate with pets who needed a drink carrier, and Alyssa J.’s ninja needed a time keeper. Each camper described the type of invention they would be designing and how it would make life easier or better for their Extraordinaire.
The students worked together while brainstorming. Oren wanted to create a drink carrier that was pirate related for the pirate’s pets. The top of the list was a barrel, and with a little collaboration from his tablemates, he came up with numerous ideas.
Teacher Dianne Wade showed a video on the SCAMPER creative thinking technique that campers will use throughout the week. SCAMPER is an acronym for various techniques to help with the problem solving and creativity process: substitute, combine, adapt, modify, put to another use, eliminate, and reverse.
After one session, students already had some solid plans in place for an invention to help their Extraordinaire!
