Nearly 200 students from 11 Douglas County School System schools contributed to 16 original sculptures now on display as part of the "Outside the Box" exhibit at the Children's Museum of Atlanta.

The exhibit invites families to transform everyday cardboard into forts, bridges, towers and other imaginative structures.

The pieces created by Douglas County students showcase their approaches to design, construction and self-expression while bringing the "Outside the Box" theme to life.

Chapel Hill Middle School art teacher Maggie Musa said she and her students collaborated with Chapel Hill Elementary School and Chapel Hill High School on a sea theme appropriate for each grade level. Chapel Hill Elementary created a school of fish, Chapel Hill Middle created a sea turtle and Chapel Hill High created a whale shark.

Musa said she initially expected a handful of volunteers when she sent home a special art club application inviting students to work on the sculpture during August. Instead, about 40 students showed up to work on what they would come to call "Timothy the Turtle, the 3rd."

"They came in early three days a week for all of the month of August, and we had three two-hour after-school working sessions as well," Musa said.

Teams of five students began by building prototypes and learning to create a 3D turtle sculpture from cardboard. Groups of students were assigned to create each arm, leg, the head and the shell, Musa said.

The end result was "Timothy," who is 5 feet by 4 feet — "even larger than we originally imagined," Musa said.

One CHMS student summed up the experience on the day the sculpture was completed: "It's so cool how we all worked on different parts, but then they all fit together and created this."

Winston Elementary art teacher Julia Sweeney and her fifth-grade art students created a hanging floral sculpture for the exhibit titled "Floral Canopy."

Sweeney said students were involved in cutting, stripping, gluing and assembling the sculpture, which features two large flowers and a butterfly.

Developed by the Children's Museum of Atlanta team, "Outside the Box" encourages guests to explore engineering, collaboration and originality while showing how everyday materials can be reused and reimagined. Cardboard from the exhibit will be recycled or repurposed following its run whenever possible.

The full list of participating schools and educators includes:

• Alexander High School – Marlana Hurst

• Bill Arp Elementary School – Emily Remmel

• Chapel Hill Elementary School – Megan Peterson

• Chapel Hill Middle School – Maggie Musa

• Chapel Hill High School – Shelley Acree

• Douglas County High School – Tia Henson

• Lithia Springs Elementary School – Victoria Rudd

• Mason Creek Middle School – Victoria Vinson

• New Manchester Elementary School – Nigil Smith

• New Manchester High School – Ashley Houlihan & Lilly Teagle

• Winston Elementary School – Julia Sweeney

The artwork will remain on display through the end of December. For more information, visit childrensmuseumatlanta.org.