RVES "arcade" raises funds for a good cause

Royal Valley third-grade students developed and built their own cardboard arcade games this semester to raise funds for a good cause.

The third annual project was spearheaded by the third-grader teachers at Royal Valley – Elizabeth VanHoutan, Chanity Daily and Ronette Oestreich – and the students’ efforts were on display last Thursday and Friday at the school gym.

Since January, the students have worked to create and promote their arcade games before they were presented during the school’s Family Engagement Night last Thursday evening for third-grade families.

Then on Friday, first, second and third-grade students had the opportunity to try the games for a chance to win prizes.

“It all kind of came together,” VanHoutan said. “I told the students that they should be so proud of what they did.”

After Christmas break, the third-grade students visited Going Bonkers, an arcade in Topeka, thanks to a donation by the Parent Teacher Organization.

“They looked at all the arcade games to see which ones they liked,” VanHoutan said. “Then we started collecting donations of cardboard and other materials that people sent in.”

The students then split into groups or chose to work individually on an arcade game.

“They started planning and went through the engineering process,” she said. “They designed their game, gathered materials, built it and then learned how to improvise when things didn’t work.”

The project focuses on developing STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) skills.

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