Use in a Makerspace
Extraordinaires Design & Make
Take your designs from the drawing pad to the real world!
The Extraordinaires Design Studio is the creative thinking game for problem solvers ages 8 to 108. If you've ever wondered what it's like to invent a music player for a robot, a remote control for a pirate, or cooking utensil for a vampire teen, this is definitely the game for you. Each set includes dozens of design challenges.
Step 1: Set up a design job: Choose an Extraordinaire to design for and choose an object to design for them
Step 2: Research & Design: Look at the back of your Extraordinaire's card for insight into their world and their specific needs. Then design the best object ever using Think Cards for inspiration.
Step 3: Present it: Present your amazing new object to the people you’re playing with.
Interdisciplinary Activities
Advocate for an Extraordinaire
One group of students becomes “The Board” and the remaining students, as individuals or in pairs, become advocates for an Extraordinaire. While an Extraordinaires Design Challenge is in its early stages, designers must come before The Board to “secure funding” for their creation. In order to gain The Board’s approval, designers will have to get The Board to empathize with the plight of their client by preparing clear arguments supporting the need for their design while predicting what counterclaims might be required to defend against any opposition. If The Board declines a design, its members must give recommendations for improvement and invite the designers to try again.
Create a Social Media Page for an Extraordinaire
Students are “hired” to build the perfect social media page for an Extraordinaire. In teams, students review and discuss the life and world of an Extraordinaire whose shared card is chosen or randomly assigned to them. They then make determinations together about the wants and needs of the character. The social media page must accomplish three things for the Extraordinaire: 1) make new friends with similar interests, 2) share a professional or personal accomplishment, and 3) express an opinion about an issue that causes the Extraordinaire particular concern. The social media page can be drawn by hand or created digitally.
Roleplay an Extraordinaire
After being given an Extraordinaire’s character card, each student creates a set of five or more questions that they would like to ask the Extraordinaire to better understand that character’s needs. Then, in pairs or small groups, students exchange their assigned Extraordinaire with each other. After spending time reviewing both sides of the card, the new holder of the card “becomes” the Extraordinaire, taking on his, her, or its persona. The first student uses the set of questions to interview the student who is roleplaying the Extraordinaire. The answers are noted, and, afterwards, students should discuss the interview, comparing and contrasting their notions of the Extraordinaire’s perspective.
Write a Letter in an Extraordinaire’s Voice
Taking on the point of view of an Extraordinaire, students write a letter in the first-person from that Extraordinaire to another one. (The students need only become “experts” in the life of the Extraordinaire that they have selected.) In the letter, students must 1) share some details about how everyday life has been going for the Extraordinaire, 2) express a wish for something that could make everyday life easier, and 3) capture the particular persona of the Extraordinaire through their thoughtful language and writing style choices. After writing the letters, students will give one another feedback in pairs before presenting the letter to the entire class.
Source: https://www.extraordinaires.com/education/activities-that-exercise-empathy/
Grade Level: Elementary, Middle, High
Players: 1 to an entire group
Play time: 60 min
Content Area: ELA, Fine Arts, Family/Consumer Science, Business/Technology, Library
Subject: Design, Inquiry, Research, Creative-thinking, Problem-solving, Inventing