The 13th Annual Cardboard Challenge at Guam Community College was a hit with two parents who spoke with Guam News Network, both agreeing that the event helped children develop skills while learning about recycling and sustainability.
According to GCC, the Cardboard Challenge "gets kids thinking, building, and problem-solving through hands-on creativity." The event brought together students, families and community groups who transformed cardboard into "interactive robots, castles, play kitchens and more."
Dena Pangelinan arrived with her three children 30 minutes after the doors opened Saturday. By the time she spoke with GNN, her children had spent two hours participating in hands-on activities and developing a variety of skills.
"Teamwork, for starters, like the kids here, they don't — they've never met, they don't know each other, but they all got together and built this huge house. And they had, like, a floor plan, and that's really cool. Their first time to play together," Pangelinan said.
The children also practiced their gross motor skills while exploring different tools and building techniques.
"They're also learning about different types of tools, like scissors and cutting and taping and just building and putting together. And then learning about how to make it into games or think outside the box," she said. "Like, there's a whole playhouse over there, and a library, so it's just really fun to think about what you could build out of what people might think is trash."
The 13th annual Cardboard Challenge marked Pangelinan's sixth time attending. According to GCC, the event demonstrates how reusing everyday materials can help care for the island.
"By connecting creativity with sustainability, GCC encourages participants to see new possibilities in familiar objects and discover that learning can be as fun as it is meaningful," GCC said.
"It's sustainability and ... having a second life or a third life or anything we have, and repurposing and upcycling. It's really important in our household," Pangelinan said.
The event also was a family tradition for Moñeka De Oro, who brought two of her sons to learn through play.
"My 2-year-old, really, was gravitating towards the games where you had to aim and shoot a little ball into a basket, and that really promotes the use of his fine motor skills. And eye coordination, the older one also was playing a lot of the games that require the same sort of gross motor skills and hand-eye coordination, and it was — it's also just the creativity of them seeing what's possible with things that are often just discarded, such as cardboard," De Oro said.
De Oro, who previously brought her 18-year-old son to the event when he was younger, said she continues to be impressed by the creativity participants bring to the challenge each year.
"Every year it's so amazing because people interpret this material so differently. There was a little, like, air hockey type game that I don't remember from the last time, and then of course the costumes of the Iron Man costumes, that's new too, and it's incredible," De Oro said. "So much creativity and engineering went into that."
Professionally, De Oro serves as executive director of the Micronesia Climate Change Alliance, where she works to protect and promote CHamoru culture and Guam's environment. At home, she is raising her children to become stewards of the island.
"It's really important for them to understand about consumption and the impact that the trash makes on our island. I also think it's really just makes us a little bit more mindful about how much we consume and how much we throw away," De Oro said. "I think them trying to raise stewards of our island, whether it's us going to the beach and picking up trash or us coming to a really great family fun event like this, it makes them aware of things outside of just our family and outside of ourselves."
The 13th annual Cardboard Challenge was held Saturday at GCC's Multipurpose Building from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.