EngineeringTechnologyMath

Repair Café Engineering

Grades 6-860-75 minSource: Creative Dad Company

Students run a mini repair café. They figure out what is wrong with broken household gadgets and toys, fix what they can, and count how much waste they kept out of the landfill. It is hands-on troubleshooting with a feel-good payoff.

Budget levels

Amazon prices checked Oct 9-10, 2026 and may change

Materials links go to Amazon. Prices are estimates and may change. As an Amazon Associate, Creative Dad Company earns from qualifying purchases.

Quick Start

Digital downloads only.

$0 to buy. Printing noted separately.

Student time: one class period, one day.

Teacher prep / build-ahead: separate from student time.

Scale it

The default plan is one class period on a single day.

Scale back: Fit it into a shorter period, use fewer effects, or run a demo instead of a build.

Scale up: Add one extra effect, or spread the share-out across another day.

Ambiance video

Ambiance video coming soon from Creative Dad Studio

Kitchen scaleBorrow or school hasuse what you have
waste log templatePrintinguse what you have
short reading on landfill impactsPrintinguse what you have

Full Experience

Required materials for the class.

$0 per class (class of about 30, 6 groups).

Student time: one day.

Teacher prep / build-ahead: separate from student time.

Scale it

The default plan is one school day.

Scale back: Fit the build into one period with fewer effects.

Scale up: Spread the work across days, or add more effects.

Total Transformation

The bigger kit, with every optional item included.

$0 per class (class of about 30, 6 groups).

Student time: one day (one session, one-day event).

Teacher prep / build-ahead: separate from student time.

Scale it

The default plan is one session, a one-day event.

Scale back: Shorten the event, or run a demo for a smaller audience.

Scale up: Spread the build and the event across days, or invite a bigger audience.

Materials

Broken household gadgets or toys (teacher-approved, unplugged); Hand tools; Scale (or an estimate of mass); Kitchen scale; waste log template; short reading on landfill impacts

Materials links go to Amazon. Prices are estimates and may change.

As an Amazon Associate, Creative Dad Company earns from qualifying purchases.

Broken household gadgets or toys
Broken household gadgets or toys (teacher-approved, unplugged)
No link
Hand tools
Hand tools
No link
Classroom scale
Scale (or an estimate of mass)
No link
Kitchen scale
Kitchen scale
Shop

Steps

Learn the science: what happens to metals, plastics, and batteries in a landfill (they break down very slowly, can leak chemicals into soil and water, and new products require mining and drilling).
Design a monitoring method: a waste log that records each item's mass on a kitchen scale, its main materials, and whether it was repaired, reused for parts, or still waste. Explain why each data column matters.
Take apart a broken household item and predict what went wrong before checking.
Find the real problem by testing parts one at a time, and try a repair or workaround.
Record every item in the log and keep a running total of mass kept out of the landfill, split by material type.
Use the log to find which kinds of items or materials end up as waste most often, and design one change to reduce it (such as a parts bin, a battery recycling drop, or a repair tip card). Run a second café session with the change.
Compare totals from both sessions and present the waste kept out of the landfill and the impact avoided.

Standards mapped

NGSS · MS-ESS3-3
Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.*