Student inventions bring fun for the holidays

For the past 10 years, Hatboro-Horsham High School educator Nick Pompei’s manufacturing and engineering classes have developed their own ideas for a game or toy to make for the annual Toys for Tots collection. This year, the students created the backyard/tailgate game, “Washers” as well as some paddle board games. Because it’s inherently harder to buy gifts for junior and senior high school-aged kids, meaning that there are less toys for the kids to choose from, the classes always focus their efforts on those age groups. The students work to design the games, develop a materials list, and make some prototypes to see how their creations will work, play, hold up, etc. They then break into various groups so that they can build as many games as possible in the allotted time frame. Once completed, the students take their creations to the local distribution center and volunteer there. Over the years, the students have made more than 150 toys and games to make the holidays brighter for other kids. Most of the donations go to local after-school youth centers. Read more on this story on the Council for the Advancement of Public Schools Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CAPS1995/.