DCD fourth graders have been reading Chad Sells’ graphic novel, The Cardboard Kingdom. It’s about a group of neighborhood children who come together and use their imaginations to create a make-believe world filled with heroes and villains that possess special powers and abilities. Clad in handmade costumes crafted out of cardboard, the children assume the identities of these characters. Through imaginary play, they learn and grow as they grapple with relationship challenges, negotiate differences and experience the power of building friendships and alliances. Students especially appreciate the graphic novel format (especially reluctant readers), and being ten year olds, they can certainly relate to the characters and situations they encountered in the story.
The class has had a particularly fun time with the final project, which had multiple creative components. First, the students imagined themselves as new members of The Cardboard Kingdom – who would their character be? Tasked with creating their own original characters, they had to come up with a special name, a description of what they looked like, the kind of special powers they would possess, and who their allies would be in the neighborhood kingdom—and this all had to be captured in a concise and descriptive paragraph.
Next, they wrote and illustrated their own chapters that could seamlessly fit into the existing graphic novel, developing an engaging and cohesive storyline and bringing it to life through their own artwork and text. The students let their imaginations run wild as they created their characters with special powers and skills! Mrs. Kennedy noted how fun it was to see that many of the traits and characteristics the students came up with were a wonderful reflection of the students’ real life personalities.
Then came the hands on fun which involved a lot of cardboard, glue, tape and paint – and plenty of creativity. Students worked collaboratively, consulting with each other and sharing ideas as they refined their costume designs. The end result were some fabulous costumes created out of cardboard befitting of their characters. As a finale to the project, dressed in costumes, they presented their characters to their classmates. Not only was this assignment an exercise in creativity, students were challenged to manage their time and all the different elements required, while also reflecting on the successes and challenges they encountered along the way.
