Upper School students in Creators 2 class have been taking a creative and reflective look at their Fay experience this fall as they design their own Fay-themed board games. Working collaboratively, they’re translating their perspective on what makes Fay unique into game boards and pieces, rules, and design elements that capture the spirit of the school community.

 

The board game assignment is a design-thinking and fabrication project with a long arc. In the fall, students develop and prototype their games. In the winter term, they test their drafts with Lower School students and gather feedback. In the spring, they bring their final version to life using digital fabrication tools. The process challenges students to think critically, work collaboratively, and iterate thoughtfully, just like real-world designers.

 

Design teacher David Alsdorf challenged his students to approach this Fay-themed project with a fresh perspective. “This project inverts the usual power structure where we tell kids what school is about,” David says. “Instead, students tell us what they think Fay is about, and they do it in the context of the open-ended challenge of designing a game.” The class learned about skeuomorphism, the design concept in which digital icons mimic real-world objects to convey meaning, and how icon design is used to communicate brand identity. David encouraged students to design their own skeuomorphs and iconography for their game while incorporating elements of Fay’s landscape. The class also examined popular games like Candyland, Monopoly, and Clue from a designer's perspective, analyzing the artwork and game elements, and remixing aspects of those games into their design.

 

Before jumping into the design process, students explored a series of guiding questions to shape their thinking: Who will play your game? What will motivate players to keep playing? Which aspects of the Fay experience do you want to incorporate? These questions encouraged students to consider how play can be a vehicle for learning. Each design team also selected a Lower School subject and a pedagogical philosophy, such as Montessori or Constructivism, to ground their work in educational principles and ensure that their games are not only fun to play but also meaningful learning tools. Eighth graders Ben M., Reya N., and Anna C. created a game called Moose Chase, where players guide a moose pawn up the stairs to advance, while crossing the grass - a Fay taboo - sends them backward. In addition to incorporating the geography of Fay’s campus, the group identified parallels to the principles of the Reggio Emilia philosophy, which fosters curiosity and resilience, and where failure is a natural part of the learning process. “We want players to be curious about how many spins it will take to get to the top,” says Ben, “but there is also the possibility of falling back down to the bottom after working so hard.”

 

Before Thanksgiving, students finalized their initial board game designs, bringing creative concepts inspired by Fay to life. One game, Moose of the Year, is based on Fay’s Moose of the Week awards. Players draw cards and accumulate or lose effort marks to move across the board. Another game resembling Sorry! has players advance for actions like studying extra hours and turning in homework early, but move back if they get stuck in a crowded hallway or forget their books. Students can’t wait to share their analog designs with Fay’s Lower School students next term to gather feedback and refine their games into even more creative and playable experiences.