We have teamed up with UK Unplugged to deliver a hands-on transport project like no other! The Transport Box is a creative, practical project that brings engineers, transport professionals, young people, families and community partners together to explore how transport works in everyday life
The original box was part funded by the CIHT Foundation. Further funding by the Royal Academy of Engineering through its Ingenious programme, has allowed the project will be delivered in Stockport and Leeds. It will support neurodivergent young people, young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, and young people who may be engaged with Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.
The Transport Box is a ready-to-use activity pack filled with creative, hands-on materials that help young people explore streets, journeys, movement and public space.
It builds on UK Unplugged’s proven approach to activity boxes, which are designed to help families take a break from screens, explore new ideas, and spend meaningful creative time together. For this project, the box will focus on transport and engineering.
Each box will help young people investigate the places they move through every day. Activities may include mapping, model-making, role play, visual prompts, street observation, design challenges and simple games that make engineering ideas easier to understand.
The aim is not to deliver a technical lesson. The aim is to create something playful, welcoming and accessible. Young people will be invited to notice how streets work, ask questions, think about different people’s needs, and imagine how transport could be safer, fairer and easier to use.
Topics may include accessibility, safety, traffic flow, public transport, walking, cycling, street design, signs, crossings, kerbs, junctions and the trade-offs engineers make when shaping places.
The boxes will be co-designed locally, so the Stockport and Leeds versions can reflect real streets, familiar places and the lived experiences of young people and their families.