In 2013, YK Pao School art teacher Anne Murray brought our students to the Shanghai Centre Family Fun Fair to participate in the Cardboard City Project. Students built a version of the famous Shanghai Tower, taking home two awards: Winner of Shanghai Building, and Winner of the Most Interesting Cardboard Structure. This year, students once again turned trash into treasure, creating a 3D Shanghai cityscape out of recycled cardboard. In a recent interview with Shanghai Family magazine, Anne provides insight to the inspiration and preparation process it took to bring our students' vision to life.
Cardboard City With the Shanghai Centre Family Fun Fair coming up this Sunday, April 13, young builders are gearing up for the competition of the year: Cardboard Shanghai 2!
Sponsored by Awesome Kids Club, the second annual Cardboard Shanghai competition challenges entrants to create buildings out of recycled cardboard and enter them for judging in a number of categories. The Cardboard Shanghai area will also offer a "drop-in construction site" where you can dig into their collection of materials and tools and get creative building unique structures during the event.
We sat down with Anne Murray--an art teacher at the YK Pao School who led her team of eight-year-old students to victory at last year's contest--to find out what it takes to win this innovative competition.
What was the inspiration behind your project last year?
We wanted to create a card board version of the Shanghai Tower, which was still being built at that time.
Describe the construction process.
We spent several lunch time sessions over about a week to create the tower by recycling cardboard boxes. We stood a few pieces on end and then worked with some tape to hold things in place while they were glued down; it was a real team effort as more pieces were wrapped around to create the twisting structure. I had been to an architecture lecture about the building so I had lots of photos of the internal and external structure, which helped us to figure out how to construct it.
What do you think made your project the winning entry last year?
We really worked as a team, each child worked together and each shared ideas about the progress of the structure, until it was completed. We were all really motivated to get it finished on time.
Have you done anything differently this year?
I think that we have added more color and more recycled materials of every type. We even recycled some of the sticky tack we use to hang posters in the school.
How do you and the students feel about your chances this year?
I think we are a bit worried this year as our team has not formed in a solid way and not every kid has been able to work on it every day. We also have taken more risks and added more recycled materials, which makes our structure more creative.
What is your favorite thing about participating in the competition?
It is great to get so motivated to bring our art to an outside venue and to have children think creatively, problem solve and to be proud and excited about their work.
To find out how the team will fare this year, head to Shanghai Centre's Family Fun Fair, Sunday, April 13, and stop by the Cardboard Shanghai awards ceremony at 3pm in the Atrium. Plus, don't miss the other exciting activities at the fair, including laser tag, soccer, performances, dancing, and more! Entry is free!
(Shanghai Family, April., 2014 )
