Junior Events
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How It Works
Let your students' imaginations run wild while learning basic STEAM principles — and all for a great cause!
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Canstruction is an international hunger relief charity that raises millions of pounds of food each year for local food banks. Its youth events give students age 10-18 the chance to use art, design, math, and problem solving skills to create fantastic, innovative CanArt® structures using unopened cans of food.
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Junior events take many forms: Some events are competitions where groups compete against one in award categories. Other events are held as group activities where all participants build one or more structures together.
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Students will learn and flex numerous skills including art/ design, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, brainstorming, creativity, construction, and community service.
Register
You can sign up as a class, a school, a religious group, a youth/social group, a community initiative or even a local venue such as a mall or library. To qualify for a Junior Event, group participants must have youth participants ages 10-18 years old and a CAN DO® attitude.
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Canstruction, Inc. is 501(c)3 U.S. non-profit charity. All Program fees paid to Canstruction, Inc. are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law and go towards overhead expenses and helping expand the work we do. If you don't have a 501c3 USA tax exemption, ask your local food bank if you can use their tax exempt ID as part of your Canstruction competition.
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You can register here. Registration costs $200 annually.
Upon registering, you will receive the following event support materials for hosting your local competition:
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​Canstruction's Official Junior Manual which includes a planning checklist and competition rules.
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Canstruction's Branding Style Guide which provides graphics and branding materials (ads, signage, posters, banners, stationary), logos, fonts, color options, etc to create posters, signs, press collateral for promoting your citywide competition.
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Customer support from our National Headquarters
Find Mentors
Junior event participants are responsible for designing/building their own structures. For this reason, teams are encouraged to include a volunteer mentor with an art, mathematics, architecture, physics, engineering, or construction background to help them design and build the structure.
Purchasing Food
Each citywide chapter is responsible for purchasing their own food. Some chapters require teams to provide their own food. Others hold food drives, raise money to buy food at a discount from distributors, or ask for donations from grocery stores and other food distributors in exchange for publicity.
For example, some cities purchase food ahead of the event and then obtain sponsors who advertise at the Canstruction exhibit. Alternatively, they may ask for donations when people come to view structures asking visitors to make a donation in a box next to their favorite sculpture in order to cast their vote for their favorite structure.
Your local food bank or hunger organization can be a vital asset in helping organizing these events. Food banks often get food at a discounted price from distributors and have prior experience marketing their causes and generating PR.
Competitive Events
Typically, youth events are competitive event where teams compete for awards and recognition or a group build where participants complete one or more cansculptures together. If you decide to host a competitive event, you can purchase official Canstruction awards in the Canstruction store.