What if learning looked like curiosity turned into action? What if students didn’t just follow directions, but designed the path themselves?
Welcome to a brand-new season of the Destination Imagination Challenge Experience—a space where curiosity drives the journey and kids get to take the wheel.
Whether you’ve been part of DI for years or you’re just hearing about us, now is a perfect time to dive in. This isn’t just a STEAM program—it’s a space where imagination gets messy, teamwork gets real, and kids grow into problem-solvers, creators, and leaders in ways that will surprise even them.
When Kids Lead, They Grow
The DI Challenge Experience isn’t your average classroom activity. It’s hands-on, student-driven, and joyfully unpredictable. Teams of students choose a Challenge—from engineering to improvisation—and spend weeks dreaming, designing, and building their own one-of-a-kind solutions.
There’s no how-to guide, no single way forward. Just endless ways to imagine, try, fail, adapt—and try again. And that’s the magic.
Throughout the process, students build more than a solution. They build trust in themselves. They build the resilience to stick with tough problems. And they build the creativity and collaboration skills that will shape their futures.
Grown-ups (we call them Team Managers) are there to cheer them on and keep things on track—but the ideas, decisions, and breakthroughs? They’re all student-made.
Not a “STEAM Kid”? That’s Exactly Why It Works.
DI isn’t about being the smartest or the fastest. It’s about helping each student find their spark—whether that’s through storytelling, structure-building, scientific thinking, or something in between.
The quiet kid discovers their voice.
The builder learns to tell a story.
The leader learns to listen.
And everyone gets a moment to shine.
With Challenges rooted in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math), there’s space for every kind of learner to explore their strengths and stretch their thinking in new directions.
You don’t need to be an expert to support a team—just someone who believes in what kids can do when they’re trusted with something big.
Globally Recognized for Putting Kids First
This year, the Destination Imagination Challenge Experience was selected as one of just 14 programs worldwide championing child-centered learning and was featured in the HundrED Spotlight on Child-Centered Learning, developed in partnership with Montessori Global Education. Destination Imagination also received Montessori’s STAR Endorsement, which highlights programs that foster student agency, creativity, and lifelong learning.
These honors affirm what DI families and educators have seen for years: when students lead their own learning, incredible things happen.
Meet This Season’s Team Challenges
🛠 Above & Beyond (Engineering): Design and build a structure that holds weight and stretches expectations.
🎲 Win It Big (Technical): Invent a game show with special effects and unexpected twists.
🧠 Unforgettable (Scientific): Dive into the mysteries of memory and misdirection and then put your findings on stage.
🦸 Becoming Super (Fine Arts): Create the origin stories of both a superhero and their villainous counterpart.
🌗 Casting Shadows (Improvisational): Use light and shadow to bring a spontaneous story to life.
🌍 Give and Take (Service Learning): Identify a need in your community and lead the charge to solve it.
🧑🚒 Helping Hands (Early Learning / non-competitive): Tell a story about everyday heroes who help their communities.
Every Challenge is a new world to explore and a new way to grow.
Start When You’re Ready
The season is open now, and you can begin your team’s journey anytime before December. Most local tournaments kick off in February or later, making it easy to fit DI into your school, after-school program, homeschool group, or just your family’s rhythm.
✨ Team Numbers for the 2025–26 season are now available!
👉 Start your team
Not sure where to start? Join a free webinar and get all of your questions answered.
All it takes is a team, an idea, and the courage to begin.
