Ridgefield fifth-graders design, build carnival games

Ridgefield — Union Ridge fifth-graders spent five weeks developing, building and testing their own arcade games as part of a cross-curriculum assignment that started in their art class. Alan Adams, the school’s art teacher, was inspired by a YouTube video of a California kid who made arcade games out of cardboard while out of school over the summer. He showed his students the video, had them split up into teams and they started designing their games. Adams worked with the fifth-grade teachers, and they let students work on their games in class once they finished their assignments. Students even worked on their projects during recess and at home. Students also revised games after unsuccessful tests. The final aspect of the project was to market the games to second-graders and teach them how to play. They offered prizes and tickets, giving second grade classes their own carnival. “It builds problem-solving skills by giving kids a real world context for their designs,” Adams said in a release from the district. “Students really have to work. It is also huge for developing teamwork, and we spend quite a bit of our lesson time focused on how to work productively with teammates.”