About

A toy soapbox cart is a small-scale toy car for downhill racing. It is a toy version of a real soapbox cart. Soapbox carts are so called because they used to be made from pieces of wood from old soapboxes.
 

Your task

Design a toy soapbox cart out of found objects. First, get your parents’ permission to use one or more old or discarded objects in this project. Think about what will make your toy soapbox cart go faster. Once your toy soapbox cart is ready, you can hold a race against other teams in your class to find the champion toy soapbox cart and team. Do this design topic on your own, or together with a classmate.
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Follow the design steps

To design something well, do it step-by-step and use the methods from the Design Thinking for Schools website. There are four design steps. The first step is LEARN. To design something, you must first learn about it. There is much to learn on any topic, and it is always interesting. Learning will help you to understand the thing that you are designing, so you can do a good job. The second step is DRAW. Try to think of as many different ideas as you can while you draw them with pencil on paper. Keep drawing until you have some ideas that you really like. Improve your ideas and combine them into a single excellent idea. Drawing is easy and fun. Enjoy it! The third step is MAKE. Make the thing that you are designing to show your teacher and classmates. You can only tell if your idea works by making it. Improve your idea while you are making it. Making something with your hands is fun too! The fourth step is TRY. Once you have made something, you should try it to see if it works or not. You can also let someone else try it to see what they think. When you try, you will often find ways to improve your design idea. That will make you a better designer.
 

​​​​​​​Note for teachers

Read the guide for teachers on Safety for the MAKE Step for Level II to safely supervise this design task.