Game designer Matt Leacock — known for cooperative games like Pandemic and Forbidden Island — gave a shout-out to Life Sized Board Games, a 2026 Think Summer class, in the October issue of his newsletter, Leacock’s Lab.
The students, second- and third-graders, created a game called Animal Rescue Team using plushies for the animals and cardboard boxes for the vehicles and taping off sections of the floor to make an enormous board.
“They each made their own specialist card with their own made-up ability,” said instructor Michelle Jones. “They made up the names of the regions in the game, and they made rescue and mission cards to go with their own stuffies for rescuing. We needed two large shelters and two small shelters, because with 12 students, there were a lot of stuffies to rescue and so little time!”
