What are you going to do with that old tire? #tirechallenge

Seven students make up one of our three Robodog First Lego League teams. These seven students ranging in grades 5th – 8th have been working since September to figure out how to make the world a better place by figuring out a new idea to help reduce trash. This is the theme for First Lego League Trash Trek.

This team has come up with an idea rather than a product. They have developed #tirechallenge mimicked after the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. They are hoping to inspire action by everyone.

The students have taken on the task of trying to make sense of the millions of discarded tires found in rivers and landfills all over. After many hours of research and trying to come up with something innovative they realized that there is simply only so much that can be done with tires. They realized that unless you are a national company that has the machinery to shred tires there really is very little you can do.

Until……

You realize that a tire can be morphed into hundreds of thousands of different ideas. They can be repurposed for very little cost. And so #tirechallenge was born.

#tirechallenge is challenging you take an old tire and turn it into something useful in your life. They are asking you share your ideas and work with the hashtag #tirechallenge on Twitter or you can email me(I am a coach) and we will share it for you.

Below you will see their ideas that they came up with. These are just a few(we will share more on Twitter over the course of the next week)

The first student took a tire and cut it down to size to resole an old shoe. He sure learned a great deal about the toughness of tires! Second, we have a flower pot. Third, we have a dog bed. Fourth, we have a tire chair and this has become the hot seat in my room. Every student wants to sit on this chair.

We have more ideas like making tables using tires and old barn planks, picture frames, and more.

We are asking that you share this message. We want this challenge spread. It is a great STEM activity, science lesson, after school club, and/or family challenge. We want you to make something awesome.

If nothing else, then please spread the word so we can see how far our message will reach. The more that are aware, then the more tires can be reused and not just sit in landfills.

Here is our YouTube video to learn about our process.

Our research presentation will be shared soon after regionals. We compete Saturday so we are hoping to get an invite to state to continue the journey. Regardless, we will continue to push the #tirechallenge.

Last, we have two other teams that we will be sharing about next. Stay tuned, but in the meantime please go find that tire, make something cool, and spread the message.