My daughter and I created this Buzz Lightyear backpack for her Halloween costume yesterday. Besides a small backpack hidden in a box, that functions as a working backpack, and serving as the straps to hold the pack on her back, the only other parts are cardboard, coloured duct tape, and a few photocopies of parts stuck on with clear tape.

Although we were following a very specific design, this got me thinking about rapid prototyping. It’s so easy to think up ideas and then create a mock-up these days. Cardboard is cheap, coloured duct tape is available in most dollar stores, and it only costs a few dollars for box-cutters that will outlast most projects. Parts can be printed on 3-D printers, or carved from small CNC machines if you have them, but they aren’t necessary. Lettering & logos can be designed and printed on coloured printers. Add a few things like coloured construction paper, markers, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, toilet/paper towel rolls, and recycled plastic bottles and caps, and the options to create are endless.

We should have fast-prototyping events at schools, and have containers to store accessories that are easily accessible for designing models. Then use these containers to put everything away when it is time to clean up. It wouldn’t be hard or very expensive to do this. The only safety concern would be the box cutters, but scissors could work too.

It’s not hard these days to promote a maker mentality in schools. What design projects would you want to do with students, given these few and affordable resources?