Kindergarten teachers Heather Anderson and Laraine Ray brought their classes into the Innovation Lab to design and build traps to catch their missing cookies..

“From previous years, we know the Kindergartners always think of catching the gingerbread men with traps, so let’s be ready for them!” Both Laraine and Heather were vigilant and soon after the students hit upon the idea of making traps, the teachers whisked their classes up to the Innovation Lab for a Design Thinking session.

First, we had the students briefly consider what gingerbread people might need. (This was a very early introduction to the concept of users having needs.) We then had the Kindergartners ponder whether constructing a trap that met one or more of these needs might be especially effective.

Using small whiteboards and markers, the Kindergartners began drawing ideas for their traps spontaneously and effortlessly.

“Can we build them?”  became a chorus, and we were off to the prototyping phase of the project. With the assistance of a bevy of parents, the Kindergartners chose materials and easily built their prototypes.
As the students proudly carried their prototypes down to their classrooms, one child confidently said to another, “Don’t worry; if it doesn’t work, we can always just redesign our prototype!”