Junior School Cardboard Challenge
Friday 20 March 2026
5.30pm–8pm
Cardboard Challenge – Sports Field
Dinner service – Junior School Playground
Here in the Junior School STEM Lab, we are excited and proud to announce that it is almost time for our next instalment of the hugely popular, biannual Cardboard Challenge! The Cardboard Challenge is a fun and exciting event for the whole family where Pre-Kindergarten to Year 6 students and their guests collaborate within their Houses to design and create a fabulous construction from pre-used cardboard. The theme this year is Trains! Each House will be working together to make one large train carriage…with a twist! At the event, each House will be given a theme for their carriage that will inspire the design and appearance.
The 2026 Cardboard Challenge will be held on Friday 20 March 2026, 5.30pm–8pm (Week 8). In the event of wet weather, the event will still go ahead indoors with a modified program.
Dressing up for the train theme and in House colours is encouraged. There will also be dress-up craft available at the event. We would like to discourage the pre-fabrication of parts for the train builds as this is not in the spirit of collaboration and creativity in the moment. Come prepared with an engineering and inventive mindset instead!
We also need lots of large, used, clean cardboard boxes in good condition (no smaller than a nappy box), which can be delivered to an allocated spot in the carpark from Monday 16 March 2026 (Week 8), or directly to the event. Please do not bring in boxes before this date as we have nowhere to store them. Please do not bring in non-cardboard materials (check inside your boxes for plastic and foam packaging), egg cartons (allergy risk), toilet rolls (sanitary reasons), box-cutters or open blades (safety reasons). You may bring your own scissors or masking tape as we only have a limited supply. As well as being for fun and creativity, the message behind the Cardboard Challenge is sustainability and repurposing used materials, so please consider this with what you bring. All materials need to go into a recycling bin at the end of the event.
To build excitement and participation before the event, students may build a train station model that fits inside a shoebox. The station can be built to any theme eg: current, historical, futuristic, magical, anything! Please put the student’s name, class, and House on the model as each station built will receive House points and will contribute to the overall points in the battle for the coveted Cardboard Challenge trophy. The model stations can be delivered to the Red Carpet from Monday 16 March 2026 and will be on display all week.
Please purchase tickets online before the event to assist with staffing and catering. Tickets are $25 per adult and $15 per student.
We are excited to be holding this event again and eagerly await the amazing cardboard constructions that will be created. Thank you for your support of STEM at MLC School and we will see you there!
House caps will be for sale on the night.
– Bede Schofield – STEAM Lab Coordinator
– Marie Cassar – STEM Coordinator