A studentʼs cardboard marble run sculpture assembled with a low-temperature glue gun.

Clyde Gaw

You see, it broke down here,” the five-year-old boy says, pointing out a problem with his marble run sculpture that he brought in from home to show his teachers. He places a large cardboard structure that he created with a low-temperature mini glue gun on the floor of the studio.

I had previously told the boy that he was too young to use glue guns; he proved me wrong. At home, he observed his older brothers use low-temperature glue guns to successfully create cardboard sculptures. His grandmother acted as creative mediator and supervisor, purchasing an ultra-low-temperature mini glue gun and cutting strips of cardboard for him. Then he got to work.

Our TAB studio now has a learning center stocked with plenty of cardboard and a low-temperature glue gun.

A Student-Led Solution
Inspired by the glue’s power to connect cardboard on short order, the young engineer constructed a 1 x 3' (30.5 x 91.5 cm) freestanding cardboard shuttle that could support racing marbles powered by gravity.

Fast forward back to the studio. My colleague Clark Fralick asked the boy, “How did you fix it?”

“It was too small, so the marble couldn’t fit.”

“Show us where you fixed it,” Clark requested.

“It was right here, so it couldn’t come in,” the boy explained.

The boy takes a handful of marbles and sets them on the launchpad to demonstrate how the marble run is repaired. Gravity takes over, and the marbles race down the track, spilling into a landing area. The boy’s solution worked! Clark and I both chuckled at this creative spectacle, amazed at the work of the five-year-old prodigy. We talk about gravity and force to the class while the boy collected the marbles and relaunched them. Transdisciplinary learning is a huge part of our program, so we point out the scientific connections we obser ve during this emergent event.

A Tool for the TAB Studio
I learned that low-temperature glue guns can be a vital tool in a child’s cardboard sculpture experience. As an adhesive, the connective power of this material is immediate so students will see their spatial ideas instantly become a reality.

Although safety considerations must always be observed, Our TAB studio now has a learning center stocked with plenty of cardboard and a low temperature glue gun.

Clyde Gaw is the studio manager of the TAB Institute, and since 1984, he has been a fulltime K–12 art teacher.