Maryland Creative Problem Solvers Instant Challenge Library

Millennium Animals

This is a hybrid (verbal/hands-on) challenge.

The Challenge:

To construct animals, based on the information on the slips of paper you receive and make a zoo in which they would live.

Situation:

You are the curator of a zoo in the 26^th century, in an age when animals are constructed by genetic changes. You are given the description of 3 animals that will arrive in your zoo in 3 months and must plan where they will live.

Materials:

You will randomly select 3 cards from each pile and decide which "parts" to put together to make your animals. You must use 3 cards per animal.

To construct the animals:

3 sheets of white paper

3 sheets of colored construction paper (randomly selected)

1 black sheet of paper

3 scissors

3 glue sticks

To construct the zoo:

10 spaghetti

1 1" cube of clay

6 straws

2 rubber bands

2 sheets notebook paper

1 12" piece of string

5 paper clips

3 cotton balls

1 12" piece of wax paper

1 sheets construction paper (8.5 x 11)

5 index cards

1 paper cup

1 paper plate

8 mailing labels

1 12" piece of aluminum foil

Directions:

You will have a 8 minutes to construct the animals and the zoo and 2 minutes to present the animals and the zoo to the judges. You must include a description of the animal, what the animal eats, and its natural habitat (home).

Scoring:

20 points for the overall creativity of each animal
20 points for the overall creativity of the zoo
25 points for the creative use of materials
15 points for the presentation to the judges
20 points for teamwork

Cards needed:

Stack 1:
beak, claws, webbed toes, hooves, fins, wings, horns, scales, fur, hair, arms, legs, spines, hump
Stack 2:
very strong, very tall, very agile, very flexible, very fast, very smart, lives a long time, very small, very big
Stack 3:
lives in the water, lives on land, lives in the air, lives underground, lives on the moon, lives in the center of the earth, lives in volcanoes, lives at the bottom of the ocean, lives in an underground lake, lives on the sun, lives anywhere