Pinball Machines: Making, Storytelling & Collaboration

I am always looking for ways to do collaborative projects with the older elementary classes. The packed curriculum and set projects have made it a challenge in the past. Last year we were able to find time to design a cool project that incorporated storytelling, design, maker technologies and games. This is the second year of the fifth grade Pinball Machine Project and it has become one of my favorites!

The fifth graders at my school go on a fall camping trip for a week. For many of the students this is one of their first experiences away from their families for several days, outside for a long stretch of time and sharing cabin spaces. There are several goals for this trip that incorporate the science, art, writing curriculum and the theme of challenges is woven throughout. Students spend time preparing for the trip reading different stories and journaling about overcoming challenges and how we can grow when we push ourselves to try something new. During the trip, students spend time journaling about their experiences and collecting their thoughts.

The connections with overcoming challenges, experiencing something new, and going on a journey, fit well with storytelling. This sparked an idea of connecting storytelling with developing a student project that connected these ideas with collaboration, making and building. These lead to students making pinball machines!

The project started with students learning more about pinball machines. We looked at the history of the games and how they have evolved over time. We explored websites about pinball machines and watched videos of some of the earliest pinball machines all the way up to the electronic, complex games of today. Students focused on how the pinball board helped to tell a story. We looked at the bumpers, ramps and lights as well as the illustrations and images on the boards. Students talked about how the goal of the game is to keep the marble on the board, hitting targets and making difficult moves to gain more points and overcome challenges.

We were able to purchase the Pinbox 3000 cardboard pinball machine kits. These kits have all of the pieces needed to build the base of a working pinball machine. The machines are all made of cardboard and all the pieces can be assembled without the use of tools. This was a perfect project kit for students to use. They built the base models following the printed and video instructions provide by Pinbox 3000.

Next, students thought about their challenge, how to design a pinball game that told the story of their camping trip. First, they wrote out the story of their trip, thinking about their experiences and challenges. Students reviewed their journals and brainstormed words to describe the trip. Then they were paired up with other students to talk about their stories and share their reflections. The groups started to sketch out the pinball game board, incorporating ideas from all the members of the group. Once they had a design sketch of their game board, students  planned the materials they would use for the design. They used cardboard for different ramps and pieces, model magic, paint, cotton balls, and ramps. Students were also able to design and cut pieces using the library’s laser cutter and 3D print objects with the 3D printers in the makerspace. Fifth graders were creative in their use of makey makey and scratch coding to add cool features like sound and electronic point boards.

Throughout the building process, students tested their machines and asked other groups to test their designs to get feedback. Groups made changes and adjustments based on the feedback they received from their classmates to make their games more challenging or better illustrate their stories and ideas.

The final step was a pinball arcade in the library. All of the machines from all three classes were out on display in the library and the whole grade took turns going around the space and playing the pinball machines and sharing what they like about each game and sharing ideas for additions to the games.

I really enjoy this project for a couple of reasons. There is a lot of collaboration throughout the project, students need to work together to build the machine, following the instructions and make sure everything is in the right place to ensure the machine works and then again when they needed to collaborate to design and build the game board based on shared experiences on the camping trip. Students had an opportunity to think in a different way about storytelling and making their thinking visible. They had to think about bumpers, barriers, ramps and materials that shared the camping trip and also made a challenging and exciting pinball game. Students were able to use different materials and be creative about using the laser cutter, 3D printers and coding. There was a lot of giving feedback to fellow students about their games and also receiving feedback and being able to make changes and adjustments based on suggestions from their classmates. Finally, pinball machines are so much fun! Students were engaged and excited about the project and the machines!