toilet the teachers could sit on that would fl ush clean water over their heads. The time it takes to transform an
idea into a fi nished game depends on its complexity. For example, I bought my wind-up Easter chicks online and tested them on my kitchen table to determine their speed and the distance they could cover: I worked out that they would complete a one metre long course in around two minutes. I also designed the track so that enough people would fi t around it at one time. The Turbo Toilet Teacher
was a school with giant wind-up cows, which they raced on a track. But the cows are expensive, so I bought chicks for Easter instead and made the track myself. When my son was a toddler, I built
him a remote-controlled ride-on Land Rover using the electrics from a mobility scooter. Later, I made him a bigger Jeep. When he started school, I noticed the roadway markings in the Reception playground that the school uses for road safety lessons. I knew it would be perfect for the summer
fair, where the children could drive laps.
Inspired by the learner drivers’ course at Legoland, we award them their ‘driving
licence’ when they complete a full circuit.
Get creative Other ideas, such as the
Turbo Toilet Teacher Terroriser 2000, have come from the school staff. Every year, the Friends would organise a game of Soak the Teacher using sponges and a set
The Jeeps are powered by a 12-volt battery with an old windscreen wiper motor in the back
12 SUMMER 2024
pta.co.uk
of stocks in the staff car park. Although they put a tarpaulin down, some sponges would fl y off the end and by mid-afternoon, pupils were throwing cold, gravelly sponges at the staff. The headteacher suggested making a
Terroriser 2000 took much longer. First, I drew some sketches. I decided to use offcuts of wooden decking to build a frame at the bottom and remembered that my late father had a spare unused toilet in his garage. But I couldn’t think of how to make it fl ush. A mum at the school is a lecturer in engineering, but she and her colleagues couldn’t think of an easy solution. So, I called a design meeting in the pub with an engineer friend. We talked through different ideas, including using a hands-free fl ushing mechanism. I bought one, took it to pieces and experimented with it. Realising it was going to work was a breakthrough moment. The children would throw a bean bag at the sensor to fl ush the toilet and release the water. I knew then that the rest of the game would come together. Another idea we achieved at a
reasonable cost was The Floor is Lava. The Friends had funded a new playground frame, consisting of eight vertical posts with bars and cargo netting. We needed to either use it for a game or cordon it off for the summer fair, and I came up with an idea based on the TV show where participants navigate an obstacle course without touching the ground (because it’s lava). I bought a red tarpaulin online for £50 and cut it to fi t under the playframe. Then I used ropes and poles to mark the boundary and made obstacles from offcuts of decking, but you could also use PE benches, crates or blocks. I recently came across an
interesting idea for a duck racing game that would be a big build and
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