Our Teen Librarian procured a large amount of amazing, double cell corrugated cardboard sheets from a local box manufacturing company. In terms of cardboard ratings, these sheets would be A+++. They are sturdy, large, and super fun. But they're kind of tricky for kids to cut up. So, we decided to work on larger projects with these sheets.
Over the summer, the Teen Librarian worked with our Facilities department to cut a bunch of the cardboard to create this geodesic dome. The first attempt, during summer, was to try and build it with binder clips (as we would have to break it down after the program). This proved to have quite enough tensile strength once they started pushing the dome up.
We looked into 3D printing our own plastic fasteners, but realized how many we'd have to print for it to work. My Senior Assistant, Elsbeth, came up with the great idea of using zip ties. A lot of zip ties. Like, and insane amount of zip ties.
So, Cardboard Challenge 1: build a geodesic dome!
Elsbeth also had a bunch of uniformly sized boxes from a supply order. These boxes packed flat (genius) and were the perfect size for open building.
Cardboard Challenge 2: build with boxes!
Even with the geodesic dome cuts, we STILL had a lot of beautiful cardboard sheets left over. I recruited our summer Teen volunteer, Olivia, to sketch out bowling pin templates, based on this lasercutting schematic. We've had some interns assisting us with programs this fall, so I set them to cutting and assembling pins with the public.
Cardboard Challenge 3: Assemble Bowling Pins (or We Should Get a Laser Cutter)!
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