Taking on the Toychallenge
A team of four fifth–grade students at St. Andrew's Episcopal School is one of 140 invited to this weekend's finals of Sally Ride Science's Toychallenge in San Diego. They will be trying to win a national prize for creating the game of Mirror Tag and the equipment to play it.
"The person who is 'it' has a silver hat and glasses and a mirror strapped around their hand," team member Amelia Andersson of Ridgeland said. "The hat has a target."
"It's basically like tag but you use the mirror to reflect on the target," 11–year–old Claire Sykes Alexander said.
"You wear the sunglasses so the sun doesn't get in your eyes," Amelia, 10, said.
"You also have to run around a lot."
Francis French, spokesman for the Toychallenge, said 350 teams entered the competition open to students in grades 3–8, the highest number ever, before narrowing the list to those in the finals.
"The judges were looking for creative, exciting and innovative toys. These kids need to be imaginative and collaborative.
"They're relating it to real life. The toy has to work for the user," he said.
The team of finalists was one of three at St. Andrew's that entered the competition. This year was the first time a team from the Ridgeland campus entered the competition.
"I'm so proud of the girls. They've worked really hard going through the engineering process. They've been working since January during their lunch period," teacher Eva Messier, who volunteered as the team's coach.
Six–graders testing the toy last week at the school said the game provides a workout both physically and mentally.
"Being 'it' takes strategy. You can't just chase them. You have to think," tester Evan Womack said.
"It's a lot harder than regular tag," six–grader Betsy Bey said, because of having to aim the mirror to hit the target on the hat to catch someone.
The toy's creators will have to take the word of the sixth–graders. Team member Lucy Woolverton said they've been so busy working on the toy and making improvements that they haven't had a chance to play it.
"Playing it looks like as much fun as making it," Lucy said.
The girls – who call themselves the "Fearless 4" – got the idea for their toy after hearing a campus speaker on a topic they don't recall, talking about finding a mirror.
"It's a simple game but lots of fun," Messier said. "It's a mixture of hide–and–seek and tag."
The idea of the game is for whoever is "it" to reflect the mirror off the front of other players' hats but the players are running around and hiding to keep from catching the light.
Since the girls had to create a prototype of the toy, not just the idea of a game, they glued foam picture frames with plastic fronts – to catch the light – on the top of black top hats. The person trying to catch the others has a silver hat. Once caught, the new "It" trades hats and glasses with the old "It."
"The winner is the person who hasn't been 'it' the most," Anna Katherine said.
The process that went into the design of the toy and any adjustments will be part of the team's presentation to the judges Saturday in San Diego.
The team will have five minutes to explain their toy and answer any questions.
The toy will be evaluated on originality, creativity, teamwork, presentation, design process and engineering. "I've learned engineering can be really hard sometimes," Lucy said.
"I've learned girls can be good at this," Claire Sykes said.
Claire Sykes learned to write a grant proposal. She wrote a letter to the Mississippi office of Northrop Grumman, one of the national sponsors, and got the team a $1,500 grant.
The top team in each category – the St. Andrew's team is in the "get out and play" category – receives an invitation to Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala.
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