Saying we all are indelibly bonded to technology may be the ultimate understatement. Smart phones are essential accessories for most of us and we rely on technology for tasks as disparate as monitoring our physical fitness and securing our homes to booking hotels and staying socially connected.

The reality is, however, creativity is not necessarily technology-dependent. We all need to keep this in mind when we panic after realizing we left for work without retrieving our smart phone from its charging station. That’s why the teachers and students at Groton’s Catherine Kolnaski Magnet School deserve high fives all around for a recent project demonstrating that cardboard and other recyclables can be transformed into fun and imaginative non-technology based “video games.”

Using cardboard, Popsicle sticks, plastic bottles, cardboard tubes, construction paper and other common items — many of which traditionally are destined for the trash or recycling bin — the kindergarten-through-fifth graders created miniature football games, marble mazes and other arcade-style games. In the process, they used science, math and engineering skills to create, invent, collaborate with their classmates and ultimately have fun playing the games.

The Groton project was part of The Global Cardboard Challenge, a project of the Los Angeles-based Imagination Foundation. The challenge encourages and promotes child creativity and the role communities play in fostering it.

The challenge was inspired by a film called “Cain’s Arcade” a 10-minute video about an East Los Angeles boy’s elaborate cardboard arcade built and operated in his father’s auto parts business. The boy used the plentiful empty boxes piling up at his father’s business to build a huge variety of arcade-style games complete with redemption tickets, prizes (his old toys such as Hot Wheel cars) and colorful signs enticing customers.

Despite the proliferation of cardboard to create “Cain’s Arcade,” the story also demonstrates the sometimes symbiotic relationship between grassroots creativity and, yes, technology. A filmmaker spread the word about the boy’s arcade via social media and Cain then was overwhelmed by a crowd of customers. This, in turn spurred more creativity and YouTube now features “Cain’s Arcade” and several other films focused on Cain’s newer cardboard arcade creations.

Participation in The Cardboard Challenge doesn’t mean schools can or should forsake technology in classrooms. The project does demonstrate, however, the foundation of creativity and entrepreneurship doesn’t have to be a computer.