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Cup and String STEM Challenge Group Acitivity

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Google Arts and Culture - Virtual gallery

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Google Arts and Culture - Virtual gallery

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Whether you want to wind down or wind up, this tube is soon to be your favorite automatic aerodynamic magic. Like the giant bubble fan from Willy Wonka's factory, this easy to make wind tube is great for exploring what flies, spins, tumbles, soars and falls, all easily mobile for the teacher/parent/adult/kiddo on the go.

There are other tubes out there in the world, and this one is inspired by this one at the Exploratorium. I wanted to make it sturdy, upright, easy to roll around the class, so here we go!

What: Wind Tube!

Concepts: aerodynamics, physics, air pressure, flight

Cost: ~ $40 (not including fan)

Time: ~ 1.5 hours to make, great for shorter activities

Materials:

Fan

Wood for base (we used about 24"x20" of 3/4" ply)

Wood for legs (we used about 6' of a 2x3")

Wood Screws

6 L-brackets

Plastic for tube (polycarbonate or acetate)

2 Wood Embroidery Hoops (we used 14")

3 Zip Ties

Clear Packing Tape

Duct tape

Materials for flying (balloons, bags, skewers, tape, popsicle sticks, paper, gloves, the works!)

Tools:

Step 1: Materials Notes

Yay! Time to gather up materials.

Find an old fan in the attic or at the thrift store, and get ready to let it rip. The stronger the merrier, but all will do. We used a 12" Polar Aire fan for ours.

For the tube, you're going to want to make sure it fits in your embroidery hoops. A 14" embroidery hoop has a circumference of approximately 45", so you'll want one of the dimensions to be near that. The other dimension is however high you want your tube. We chose 48".

Casters are optional, but are useful for us so we can move it around the classroom easily.

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Step 2: The Wood Donut

First up is to make a wood donut, which is going to be the main supporting structure for the tube.

You want the inner diameter to be as close to the fan's diameter as possible, and then for it to be thick enough to be strong even when we cut leg holes out of it soon. For ours, we used the hoop to make the inner diameter 14", and then we made a makeshift screw-and-pencil compass to make a 19" outer radius.

Cut the outside with a jigsaw or bandsaw. Then drill a hole for a jigsaw to cut the inner diameter. You made a wood donut!

Step 3: Cut Room for Legs

Tripod time! Use the wood for your legs to outline notches in your wood donut. Cut with a jigsaw, and test to make sure there's enough space for your legs to stand upright while having enough clearance around your fan.

Step 4: Notching Your Legs

Cut out three lengths of your 1x2 so that the wood donut will clear the top of the fan, and you'll have a couple inches between your donut and your wind tube so that you can put objects inside it from below. We made ours with 15.25" legs.

Cut notches in them so they can support the wind tube, and cut these out with a jigsaw or a bandsaw.

Step 5: Screw and Drill

Grab your L-brackets and screw them on so they'll be on the underside of your platform. Afterwards, drill some holes in the top of each leg for future wind tube attachment (you only need one per leg).

Step 6: Add Wind Tube Supports

Each leg will need a little platform for the wind tube to rest on. I eyeballed three pieces of 3/4" ply that ended up being near 3.5" x 2". You can cut a curve in them (more for appearance), sand them, and screw them on to your legs.

Whew! All done with wood!

Step 7: Casters

These rollie-pollies are optional of course. We added them so we could move it around a classroom easily. If you want, grab three and screw them in to the bottom of the legs.

Keep in mind these will affect the overall height of your wind tube platform above your fan.

Step 8: Making the Tube

Get ready to take 2D plastic into the third dimension. This is a bit like herding cats, but comes out okay in the end. Peel back your plastic to expose it's shiny interior. Fold it into a tube, and start lining it with packing tape along the seam. When you feel like there's enough tape to hold, add the embroidery hoops on either end to give more support. You can duct tape these, and come back later to make them look prettier if you want.

By the end, you have a great 4' tube!

Step 9: Prep Tube Attachment

While your tube sits neatly on the wood base, you'll want to attach it there. Put your wind tube on the supports, and mark two points for drill holes for each leg. These will be for zip-ties to go through.

Take your tube off, and drill the holes (six in total). Huzzah!

Step 10: Zip-tie Tube

Let's tie it up! Attach the wind tube to your base with a zip tie through the holes on each leg. Three zip ties should do it, and makes it easy if you want to cut them for transport in a car or in to storage.

Cinch down the zip ties, and cut the extra off. You have a wind tube!

Step 11: Safety Add-On

If you're using this with kids, do take into account fan hazards. Having hands near fans can be dangerous if the proper pre-cautions aren't taken. Also, when you make things to fly in your tube, popsicle sticks and pipe cleaners can get eaten up by your fan if you don't shield them. NOM NOM.

So grab some wire mesh from a hardware store, cut it to your fan size, and zip-tie it to the top so that no fingers or popsicle sticks get injured in the making of this joy.

Step 12: Make Things to Float!

Time to unload the craft drawer! This is the fun part, in trying to make different wacky objects for different behaviors. You can try to make things that float, spin, hover, fall, or interact with the wind.

Pinwheels, paper airplanes, balloons with weights, parachutes, and even crumpled paper behave in wonderful ways. Try them all, whether you be a party of one or a giant group.

Step 13: Liftoff!

Your wind tube project is complete, and is the gift that keeps on giving. Try new objects, designs, wind speeds, prompts, and constraints to get new projects all the time.

You can even turn it on its side and get a horizontal wind tunnel, or put a beach ball on top and see the Bernoulli effect as you begin to change the angle of your tube.

Leave comments! Ask questions! Show us what you fly in your tube, and as always, keep exploring. :)

Teacher Notes

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Add a Teacher Note to share how you incorporated it into your lesson.

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Wind Tube!: Whether you want to wind down or wind up, this tube is soon to be your favorite automatic aerodynamic magic. Like the giant bubble fan from Willy Wonka's factory, this easy to make wind tube is great for exploring what flies, spins, tumbles, soars...

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The easiest way to be the best in the world at an instrument is to play one that nobody else knew existed. With sounds from your personally pitched plastic that are a mix between John Coltrane a flock of wild geese, you'll be playing in no time. I like this project as an introduction to the physics of waves, acoustics, and music in general. And it's just a tooting good time.

What: PVC Saxaphone

Why: Hooooonnnnnnnk!

Concepts: acoustics, waves, physics, music

Time: 30-40 minutes to make, a lifetime to master

Cost: ~$2

Materials:

PVC (3/4" or 1/2" works great)

4 PVC elbow joints

1 Plastic Funnel

1 Piece firm plastic (from packaging works great)

Tape (heavy duty)

Tools:

Hacksaw (or PVC cutter)

File

Scissors

Hot glue gun and hot glue

Drill

Let the music play!

Step 1: Start Your Reed

If you've ever accidentally talked to someone who plays a woodwind instrument, you've probably heard a lot about reeds. Well now you get to experience a single-reed first hand.

Start with your PVC pipe, and draw a diagonal line. I found that around 30 degrees works well. Use a hacksaw, and give it a cut. File off a little bit of the "tall" end of the diagonal cut" so that it's slightly rounded. This will make the reed sound much easier to play.

For a look into the amazing science of reed instruments, check out this link to get started.

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Step 2: Finish Your Reed

Cut out a tongue of firm plastic the size of the opening of your PVC cut. Leave a little tail on the end for taping. Tape it down hard toward the bottom of the diagonal cut, leaving the top part free. There should be a small gap between the PVC and the clear plastic. If not, file down the PVC a little more.

Now try playing your reed by simply putting it in your mouth and breathing. You may have to experiment with bite and depth for a little to find where the note is made.

For more help on making this part of your saxophone, check out my previous project, "The Most Marvelous Honk."

Step 3: Cut Your Sax

You wouldn't be inventing your own instrument if you followed every one of these instructions, so get creative. The basic PVC saxophone "shape" is to cut out four more PVC lengths in addition to the mouthpiece, and to connect them all with elbow joints. In cutting the lengths, the main pipe where finger holes will be placed is the longest.

Use a hacksaw or PVC cutter to make any wild size or shape you want. The overall length of your pipe will affect the notes played, so you can mess around with a number of length combinations.

Next, drill holes in the longest of the PVC tubes to make finger holes for playing. You can experiment with different spacing to get different harmonics, but ultimately the closer the holes exposed are to the mouthpiece, the higher the note played.
Sound Science Stuff:
The sound created inside is due to standing waves created in what is effectively a close-ended air column. For a look at the science in harmonics and close-ended wind instruments, check out this website. For a look at specifically how saxaphones work, see this primer. A significant difference in the sound of a brass sax and our PVC sax is that our column is not a conical or bowed shape, but a cylindricial one.

When you open up air holes with your fingers, you are changing the length of the wave that resonates most strongly in the tube. In a simplified way, this is similar to shortening the length of the tube to wherever the closest exposed hole to the mouthpiece is.

Step 4: Amplify

You can't keep your PVC music just to yourself. Let those goose-like tones fly!

Cut off the end of the plastic funnel, hot glue it, and stick it either inside or around the end of your saxophone to amplify your sound a bit, as well as give it a bit of an aesthetic flair.

Step 5: Release Your Coltrane

Well the music isn't going to play itself! Start your path to Carnegie Hall one plastic note at a time.

You can honk and toot the day away, and when you're ready, take it apart and make a different design. All parts are easily interchangeable, and I'm excited to see what variations you come up with.

To learn more on the physics of sound, start here and then jump in to learn more about the science of instruments.

Have fun, happy tooting, and as always, keep exploring.

Teacher Notes

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PVC Saxophone!: The easiest way to be the best in the world at an instrument is to play one that nobody else knew existed. With sounds from your personally pitched plastic that are a mix between John Coltrane a flock of wild geese, you'll be playing in no time. I...

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We joined along again this week for the second Instant Challenge hosted by Michelle @ Delightful Learning. Our challenge this week? Create a structure that would hold 2 cups.

The materials:

6 straws

1 piece of paper

piece of tinfoil

3 mailing labels

2 paperclips

2 pieces of string

1 envelope

2 chenille sticks

Since the girls had a successful attempt last week, and are starting to get into the routine of the challenges, this one was a LOT easier to explain and get going. During the building time, both girls worked independently on different parts of the challenge.

McKenna worked on building the 'deck' for the bridge of the structure. She used the tinfoil, paper, envelope and the paper clips to put her piece together.

Laurianna worked on building the frame of the structure. She attached one end of each of the straws to a penny so that it would stabilize the straws. She then poked pipe cleaners into the straws to connect them together. Once she had the two main 'arches' built, she used the extra 2 straws to support the top of the bridge, tying them on with the string.

When McKenna had finished her top piece they carefully laid it on top of the main support. So far, so good!

Their next test {before the 7 minute building part was complete} was to see if it would support any weight, so they used the leftover penny to check.

Here's a little look at the structure from underneath. Not the most beautiful, but when you're using straws and tinfoil...what do you expect? :)

The big test was seeing if it would support the two cups and getting them as far apart as possible. SUCCESS!!!

Our Score:

10/10 points for having a completed boat at the end of Part One.

20/20 points for creativity in using the materials ~ they found a use for everything!

13 points for how far each cup was from the table {1 point for each inch and they were each 6.5 inches off the table}

18 points for how far apart the cups were {2 points for each inch and they were 9 inches apart}

20/20 points for teamwork. I was impressed that they each worked on their own tasks to complete the project together!

Overall Score: 81/100

We're gearing up for the next challenge: High Flying! "Up for a Challenge?" is a weekly meme designed to get students involved in critical thinking and creative problem solving by doing an Instant Challenge. If you are interested in being a part of the Instant Challenges, you can find out more here.

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We joined along again this week for the second Instant Challenge hosted by Michelle @ Delightful Learning. Our challenge this week? Create a structure that would hold 2 cups.

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When it comes to working with craft sticks, my kids want to make projects that are "cool". So what does that mean? Apparently these launchers count as extra cool! This is a great engineering and crafting challenge for kids 7 years old and up. The result is part crossbow, part slingshot, all fun!

Check out what we made with craft sticks!
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links
This was such a fun project and the best part is that it doesn't take long to make and the supplies are very inexpensive. Once the kids have completed their builds they will have so much fun launching Q-Tips all over the place.

We call it - THE LAUNCHER

So what exactly is it? Well it is a special creation from the imaginations of fantasy lovers and game players (aka The STEAM Powered Family!). We wanted to make something that would be easy to build, but had BIG play value. The result was this DIY toy that is part crossbow, part slingshot.

Check out this video on how to make a Craft Stick Launcher

SUPPLIES AND TOOLS

4 Craft Sticks (also known as Popsicle Sticks)
2 Buttons
1 Rubber Bands (make sure it has a bit of width to it)
Crafting Paint
Plastic straw
Glue Gun
Scissors
Cotton Swabs

Want a crossbow inspired engineering kit? Checkout the Vex Robotics Crossfire. We had so much fun building the Crossfire it inspired this creation!

DIRECTIONS FOR BUILDING A POPSICLE STICK LAUNCHER

Step 1 - Paint two of the craft sticks one colour, and two another colour. You will be gluing them together so that is why we painted ours to have two matching, but really they don't need to match. Just paint them however you want!

Step 2 - Using a glue gun, glue two popsicle sticks together. Then glue the other two together. We are doing this for two reasons. First, it makes the structure stronger. Second, the end of the handle becomes an anchor point for the rubber band while loading the Launcher.

Step 3 - Choose which is going to be the handle and which is going to be the crossbar. Place the crossbar about 1/4 of the way from the top of the handle and glue in place.

Step 4 - Make sure your crossbar is on the bottom (so you have the smooth surface of the handle on top). Now glue your buttons on the crossbar about 2 cm in from the ends.

Step 5 - Cut your straw about 6 - 8 cm in length should work.

Step 6 - Glue the piece of straw on top of the handle so it is above the crossbar near the front. Let the glue set for a few minutes.

Step 7 - Wrap the rubber band around the end of the crossbar on one side, then repeat on the other side. Pull the long side of the rubber band and anchor it on the end of the handle. Your Launcher is now ready for action!

USING THE CRAFT STICK LAUNCHER

To use the launcher place a Q-Tip cotton swab in the end of the straw. Carefully lift the rubber band off the end of the handle and pinch the Q-Tip and elastic between your index finger and thumb. Pull back until the Q-Tip end is just inside the straw. Make sure your other fingers are out of the way, and then LET GO!

Pro Tip! Challenge your kids to design their launchers with various lengths of straws. The longer straws will allow great pull on the rubber band, resulting in launches covering greater distances, but they also require more finger strength. Test it out to find the optimal design for the best launches!

These little launchers are so much fun! I even caught my husband launching a bunch of these in the house. Kids of all ages will enjoy this STEAM challenge.

Pro Tip! The cotton swabs may get a little fuzzy which can cause friction and cause issues during launching. If this happens, you have two options. Roll the ends of the Q-Tip between slightly moistened fingers to help tighten up the fibers. Or you can wrap a little clear tape around the ends of the Q-Tip to keep things neat and moving smoothly through the straw, just make sure it is really smooth so the tape doesn't cause friction.

MORE FUN LEARNING IDEAS

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Engineer Craft Stick Launchers - Quick & Easy STEM Activity

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The coolest project using craft sticks! Build your own crossbow inspired Launcher. Popsicle stick crafts for kids 7 and up that are also educational. This project will inspire kids to learn more about engineering, art and physics, all while having a ton of fun! Quick and easy to do, a fantastic classroom challenge.

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Kids love to build towers! It becomes a competition and this one is quite challenging, as well! It features a tennis ball and some wacky rules about height and the materials!NOTE: This challenge is available in money-saving bundles.*Towers Bundle Set 2*STEM Challenges 6-Pack Bundle featuring TowersT...

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Here's a super fun science activity that really gets kids thinking! Children will explore balance and center of gravity by creating a balancing robot!

This balancing robot science exploration has always been a huge favorite among my students! In this science activity kids will place two pennies in various locations on a paper robot until they've discovered how to make the robot balance. This post contains affiliate links.

See it in action here!

Materials for Balancing Robot Science Activity

Print out the free printable on a sheet of white card stock, and color the robots if you'd like. Cut out the robots.

To make the robot balance you'll want to stick two pennies onto the hands of the robot. (You can use tape to do this, but removable poster putty gives kids a chance to explore balance by moving the pennies to various locations on the robot.)
Here's how we did it:
Flip your robot over to the back. Place a small piece of poster putty on the hands of the robot.

Press a penny onto each hand. (You can leave it just like this, but we like to attach the second robot to the back so you can't see the pennies!)

Stick some more poster putty on the pennies.

Press the second robot onto the back. (To keep the top part of the robot from opening up, you can also place a small piece of putty between the two robot bodies to hold them together.)

Now you've got your balancing robot!

Exploring Balance and Center of Gravity

Here's the fun part! Show the students a balancing robot in action on your finger, but don't let them know how to make it just yet.

Now, give each student one of their cut out robots (they can attach the second robot to the back once they've figured out how to make it balance), 2 pennies, and some removable poster putty.

Give them time to try out sticking the pennies to different parts of the robot to try to get the robot to balance on their fingers. I love watching them explore and discuss with their friends all the various ideas they come up with! Many will figure it out on their own. For those that don't, you can show them the correct placement of the pennies or invite other students to help them.

Once all the students have their balancing robots built correctly, let them explore balancing the robot in different places. We tried ours out on our nature table.

Lucy's favorite place was her nose!

This is a such a fun science activity for kids to do any time of the year! Hope you enjoy it, and please let me know how it goes!

Other Resources for Exploring Balance and Center of Gravity

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Science for Kids: Balancing Robot (FREE Printable) - Buggy and Buddy

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Here's a super fun science activity that really gets kids thinking! Children will explore balance and center of gravity by creating a balancing robot! Follow our Science for Kids Pinterest board! This balancing robot science exploration has always been a huge favorite among my students! In this science activity kids will place two pennies ...

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Last year, I started a new Space Club program at four middle schools. Not wanting to reinvent the wheel, I searched the web for ideas and curriculum to implement. I soon became excited to find great resources like NASA and TeachEngineering, but I was also overwhelmed as a simple Google search for "Space STEM activities" gives you a mere 89 million hits. Wading through a lot of junk eventually brought some gems that I could implement, and I leave it to another post to rant about the lack of quality in many activities that claim to be "STEM."

One great idea I found was from a NASA activity based on designing a landing craft. My Vivify partner, Claire, and I modified the idea to involve aliens, a topic middle school students find particularly fascinating. The design challenge is presented as follows:

An alien spacecraft has been spotted orbiting Earth. They are a peaceful species and wish to share their advanced technology with the human race. But they need our help! They do not have a way to land on Earth. Your mission: Design and build a shock-absorbing lander to protect two aliens during impact on Earth. Only the supplies available on the spacecraft can be used.

Basically, the teams need to engineer a lander that can keep two "alien" marshmallows inside a cup when dropped. Students learn about shock-absorption and stability, and then using items such as straws, index cards, and mini marshmallows, they build their lander. The key is to keep testing and modifying the design to enhance stability and absorb the shock from impact. This project is exciting because there are so many ways to use the materials, and they can quickly see if their design works. Side note: Students will try to eat, squish, and draw on the "aliens"!

Like every STEM challenge, I start this one with a hook that connects the activity to an exciting real-world application. I love the following video by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory that details the challenges of landing the Curiosity rover on Mars. This is a very dramatic and exciting video with narration by NASA engineers. The music alone will catch their attention!

After the video and a discussion on the challenge constraints, the student teams should jump right in. My Space Club students loved this challenge! At the end, we made this into a classroom competition to see who could go the highest. Students stood in a circle, and teams came up one by one to test their lander. They cheered and groaned, and the entire class was actively engaged. I was also amazed at the variety and creativity of lander designs!

I love this challenge so much that I have repeated it for outreach presentations from upper elementary to high school students. This activity is engaging, cheap, easy to implement, and a great connection to many math and science subjects. Teachers can incorporate geometry, algebra, physics, and more!

If you would like ideas on how to implement this in your classroom or program, you can check-out the Vivify product here. This activity is over 30 pages including:

Detailed teacher guide with rubric

Student handouts guiding them through the engineering design process

Student recording sheets

Math connections including: ratios, geometry, graphing, and equations (in both SI and Metric units)

Alignment to the Common Core and NGSS Engineering Design Standards

Now updated with a digital and printed STEM journal - perfect for distance learning! Click here!

Looking for more STEM activities for your classroom or program? From icebreakers to engineering design challenges, we have a variety of activities tailored for elementary and middle school grades. Check out our most popular STEM challenges below!

We hope your students enjoy this activity!

Source: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Space-Lander-Mission-Hands-on-STEM-Engineering-Project-1992894

Tagged: stem activities, STEM Challenge, stem middle school, engineering challenge, NASA Lessons, Space Lander Challenge, catapult, drag device challenge, icebreakers, mars colony project, Starter STEM, rockets

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Last year, I started a new Space Club program at four middle schools. Not wanting to reinvent the wheel, I searched the web for ideas and curriculum to implement. I soon became excited to find great resources like NASA and TeachEngineering , but I was

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In this STEM / STEAM activity, kids will make a homemade pan flute using straws! After building their own pan flutes and exploring the science of sound, children will then have the opportunity to write their own songs and record the notes for those songs on the free printable recording sheet. A fun musical instrument craft and science activity all in one!
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Kids always love making homemade musical instruments. (We've previously made our own cardboard tube kazoos and rainsticks - such a fun way to explore sound and make music!) In this STEM activity, kids will make their very own pan flutes using straws. While making the pan flutes (sometimes called panpipes), they'll have the opportunity to use both math and fine motor skills, while also building and creating.

When the kids have finished making their straw pan flutes, they can use them to explore sound and make music. Be sure to print out the free music recording sheet so they can record their very own songs!

See it in action here!

Materials for Homemade Straw Pan Flutes

Directions for Making Straw Pan Flutes
This is how we made our straw pan flutes, although you don't have to make them exactly as we did. I'll mention various options you can use in each step below.
1. Take five wide straws and cut them into varying lengths. (We cut ours into the following lengths: 6 inches, 5.5 inches, 5 inches, 4 inches, and 3.5 inches.) Encourage children to measure and cut their own straws.
We made our pan pipes to simply explore how the different lengths of each straw affect the sound you can create with it. But, if you want to create a proper scale, you'd want to create your pan pipe with 8 straws using the following measurements: If doing the 8 straw method, you'll obviously need longer strips of cardboard and tape described in the steps below.
2. . Cut two strips of cardstock to 7 inches x 1.5 inches.
Optional: Decorate your cardstock with markers, crayons, or paint.
3. Place a 7 inch strip of double-sided tape onto the inside of one piece of cardstock strips.

4. Place the longest straw on the tape first, near the left edge. You'll want one end of the straw hanging about 3/4 inch over the side. Place the shortest straw on the right hand side of the tape, with the same amount (about 3/4 inch) hanging over the edge. Next place the middle length straw right in the center. Place the remaining two straws onto the tape. All the ends of the straws should line up about 3/4 inch over one edge of the cardstock.
We placed them on the tape in this order to better space them out equally, but it might be easier for younger kids to just put them on the tape from longest to shortest and not really worry about spacing.
5. Place the double-sided tape onto the other black strip of cardstock and place it on top of your straws, lining it up with the first piece of cardstock. Press down firmly.

6. Number each straw 1-5 with a black Sharpie.

7. Practice making sounds with your flute by resting the tops of the straws on your lower lip and blowing across them.
(You can also make noise blowing right into the straw. That's fine too and much easier for younger children.)
8. Did you create some tunes or songs you like and want to play again? Write the numbers of each note onto the printable recording sheet. You can even give your song a name.
My kids loved writing their own songs and performing them for me. We had our very own pan flute concert!
What's the STEM or STEAM behind this activity?

Science: What's the physics behind making sound from a straw in the pan flute?

As you blow across the straw, the air in the straw vibrates. So what you are actually hearing is the air inside of the straw, not the flute itself. You can change the pitch by changing the length of the straw. A long straw produces a low note. A short straw produces a high note.

Engineering: Kids have the opportunity to build and design their own instrument. They can see how the placement of the various lengths of the straws affects the ability to use the flute.

Art: The pan flutes can be decorated to express your child's creativity! They also have the opportunity to write and record their own music.

Math: Kids will need to measure and compare lengths in order to create their straw pan flute.

Ways to Extend Learning

Try using straws of varying widths. Does the width of the straws affect the sound they make?

Make a pan flute with even more straws of different lengths.

Make a pan flute with both ends of the straws open and one pan flute where the straws all have one sealed end. Compare the sounds each pan flute makes.

Can you build a pan flute with other materials, making it easier to use or hold?

Could you build a pan flute on a larger scale? What could you use? (Try PVC pipes or cardboard tubes.)

Research the history behind pan flutes. Which countries and cultures use them? Compare the various pan flutes you discover.

Want to Purchase a Class Set of Pan Flutes Kits?

For my after school kindergarten enrichment class, we used this pan flute kit from Discount School Supply. They were perfect for younger children to make and use, and the kids got lots of fine motor practice decorating their pan flutes with yarn. (And less prep for you!)

Even More STEM and STEAM Activities

This post is part of the 28 Days of STEM and STEAM Activities for Kids series. Be sure to head over and check out all the other creative ways to encourage a love of science, technology, engineering, art and math in kids!

Be sure to check out our STEAM Kids book and ebook for even more creative STEM and STEAM ideas!

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Homemade Pan Flutes for Kids with Free Printable Recording Sheet - Buggy and Buddy

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In this STEM / STEAM activity, kids will make a homemade pan flute using straws! After building their own pan flutes and exploring the science of sound, children will then have the opportunity to write their own songs and record the notes for those songs on the free printable recording sheet.

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If you were given a piece of paper, tinfoil, six straws, two paperclips, two pieces of string, two pipe cleaners, three mailing labels, and an envelope - and then had five minutes - would you be able to build a structure that could support two cups while getting both cups off the ground and as far apart from each other as possible? Years ago our girls did this same Cup Holder STEM challenge together with much success, so I thought it would be fun to try again on a larger scale.

This semester I am working with a group of six graders in our co-op in a STEM or building class. One of the things that our family (and another co-op class) enjoyed in the past were Instant Challenges. Essentially, the children are given a set of objects and a challenge to build something specific within an allotted amount of time. The bulk of our Instant Challenge STEM ideas come from this site and we tweak them to make them work for us. The main thing I love about these challenges are they involve simple (and inexpensive) items that are easy to find and give some fun results in a short amount of time.

The Cup Holder Challenge

For our first class, we introduced the overall structure of what we would be working on and broke the kids up into four teams (class of eleven, so one team has only two). Each team had at least one boy and one girl to balance it out. The kids were 'scored' on teamwork first and then based on completion of the challenge.

In all honesty, the challenge didn't go quite as easily as I (or the kids) thought it was - a bit of a surprise to me, but I do think we figured out the why behind our issue...read on!

Breaking Up into Teams

Each team (between 2-3 children) was given 2 minutes to come up with a design, 6 minutes to work on their cup holder structure, and then show how their structures worked, compare designs, and make improvement suggestions to other teams or for their own structure.

Challenge: Create a structure that holds two cups as high as possible and as far apart as possible. Each team has 2 minutes to design, 7 minutes to create, and 1 minute to test their structure.

Materials: 6 straws, 1 piece of paper, a piece of tinfoil, 3 mailing labels, 2 paperclips, 2 pieces of string, 1 envelope, 2 pipe cleaners, and 5 pennies

The Results

One of the things that I love about these challenges is seeing the creativity and difference that each group comes up with in their designs. Even though they each have the same set of supplies, their brains are all whirling in different directions and putting those items together in alternate ways.

As each of the groups were working, the other mom and I walked around the room observing, offering suggestions if needed, and giving time updates.

Group 1

Out of all of the groups, Group 1 was the only one to have a completed structure at the end of the original challenge time period. They were able to transfer their structure to the middle of the room, set it up, explain their building process, and support the two cups.

They wrapped their paper in tinfoil and added the envelope for extra support on the main 'shelf' of their structure. Pipe cleaners and string were used to hold the straw legs together.

Their main focus was the base support, which definitely worked to their advantage. While it wasn't raised from the floor as much as they wanted, it was a solid structure as long as the straws were all balancing properly.

Completed structure: cups were 6" off the floor and " apart.

Group 2

This group almost had a structure that supported the cups, but the moment they let go of the cups, their structure tipped over. They built for height, but had a base that wasn't sturdy enough, despite the tinfoil, to support the two cups.

Their paper and envelope were rolled in a cone shape, with tinfoil as their base support. The straws were then adhered to the cone using the mailing labels.

Overall their concept was good, but not quite there. Their 'aha' moment came during our group suggestion time (see below) when they were able to modify it a bit based on a recommendation from another team.

Completed structure: cups were 0" off the floor and 0" apart.

Group 3

This team had some fun ideas and creative ways to hold things together (paper clips pushed through the straws), but their overall structure ended up with zero height. They tried to connect the straw and have them in an elongated "U" shape, but then they couldn't get their straws to stay up and support weight.

They also used up several of their supplies (by rolling or crumpling), so there really wasn't much help that could be given to create a working structure. They had a great attitude about their mistakes.

Completed structure: cups were 0" off the floor and 0" apart.

Group 4

This team was the smallest of the four, and while the two started out with a good idea (again wanting to build it as tall as they could), they quickly realized they didn't have enough base support when it came time to balance cups on either side of their structure.

They ended up trying to use the straws in a triangle-shaped base, which did work well to give support, but they weren't able to get any distance between the two cups and instead stacked them on top of each other.

Completed structure: cups were 3" off the floor and 0" apart.

Making Improvements and Suggestions

As we came together as a group, some of the kids were a bit frustrated their structures weren't completed. Three of the teams were given an extra six minutes to continue building - and they still had nothing that really worked. Many of them had already used the bulk of their supplies in a way that couldn't be recycled (tinfoil crumpled up or paper ripped), so they were stuck.

Each team was given a chance to explain their initial idea and what they thought worked best or didn't work how they envisioned. We then talked through what they could have tried differently and what may have been a better use of their resources. Overall it was a very encouraging time for the kids and they definitely walked away with some ideas to build it better. One group (Group 2) took a few minutes to tweak their design by cutting the bottom of their cone and spreading out the bottom of the paper and returned a few minutes later with a working structure!

What We Realized

While the bulk of our groups didn't have a completed structure at the end of the challenge (which was puzzling to me at first), we realized that many of them were over-thinking their designs. Rather than focusing on a stable structure, they focused on making their structures be the one that put the cups the highest off the ground so they could earn more points. They could have kept it very simple (made a more table-like structure) and even gotten it done more quickly.

We also spent some time talking about how in real life things are built and require support in various ways (bridges, pyramids, etc...). The kids thought for our next challenge they need more time to design and build, but I'm honestly leaning more toward the lesser of the time so they can keep their designs simple and get done what needs to be accomplished. We'll keep you posted on further challenges in the upcoming weeks!

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If you were given a piece of paper, tinfoil, six straws, two paperclips, two pieces of string, two pipe cleaners, three mailing labels, and an envelope - and then had five minutes - would you be able to build a structure that could support two cups while getting both cups off the ground and as far apart from each other as possible?

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Here's a fun science activity that demonstrate's Newton's 3rd Law of Motion, and it's also a lot of fun! Use a straw and a balloon to make a spinning pinwheel.
The pinwheel works by inflating the balloon and then letting it go. Air rushes out of the balloon through the straw, which causes the pinwheel to spin. It's a neat science toy! We didn't think of this idea - I found it on Pinterest via this website.
To make one, you will need:

Straw

Pencil - with a good eraser

Straight pin

Tape - we used duct tape

Balloon

Attach the balloon to the straw with duct tape. You want to create a nice tight seal.

Then attach the straw to the pencil with the straight pin. The instructions we read said to attach it at the balance point. Find the balance point by balancing the straw with the balloon attached on the end of your finger. Well, our balance point was in the middle of the duct tape, and we didn't think that the pin would spin very well if we stuck it though the tape. We decided to place the pin just past the tape, and it worked great.

Blow up the balloon by blowing through the straw. It's a little challenging, but my 13, 9, and 7 year olds were all able to do it.

Then let go, and watch the balloon spin! It spins faster as the balloon gets smaller.

This project demonstrates Newton's third law of motion which says that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. As air rushes out of the straw, it pushes the straw in the opposite direction.

Aidan pointed out that the pin is also exerting centripetal force on the straw, causing it to move in a circular motion.

Pretty neat, huh?
Need more science ideas? View our STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) category here: STEM Activities

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Make a Balloon Pinwheel Science Demonstration

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Here's a fun science activity that demonstrate's Newton's 3rd Law of Motion, and it's also a lot of fun! Use a straw and a balloon to make a spinning pinwheel. The pinwheel works by inflating the balloon and then letting it go. Air rushes out of the balloon through the straw, which causes the pinwheel to spin.

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Introduction: Truss Bridge 2 - Straws & Tape (A Challenge Project)

Hello there,

We're continuing with truss bridges. This project needs more accurate taping, which might be a tad difficult for primary students. However, I've done this project with a group of 3rd graders, and they were able to build sufficient truss bridges.

Step 1: Gather Your Supplies

Supplies:

A bag/box of straws

Tape

Scissors

Small cups

Paper clips

Weights - pennies, paper clips, etc. Anything is OK as long as they weigh the same. You want to compare how much different bridge designs can support

Step 2: Cut the Straws & Tape the Pieces Together

1. Cut a bundle of pieces to same size (~2 1/2 inches long). Leave some for different lengths. These will be cut to size.

2. Tape four pieces together to make a square. Tape uniformly across all places. Create enough square to span an opening that is 10 inches wide.

Step 3: Put the Sides Together

Created bottom of the truss bridge first, then continued to build the sides of the bridge. (These squares measure to 11 inches in length.)

Step 4: Finish Your Truss Bridge

1. After creating several squares, put cross bracings diagonally (cut these to size).

2. Put the top pieces last and enclose the truss bridge.

Step 5: Test Your Bridge

1. Place the truss bridge between two desks, tables, chairs, etc.

2. Hang a small cup in the middle of the bridge (use hole puncher and paper clips) and load it with pennies, paper clips, etc. to weigh it down and test its strength.

Step 6: Failure & Improvements

Different size straws, too much tape on one side, etc. will create imbalance and weaknesses in the bridge structure.

Remember, Engineering is all about failing and trying, again. So, try and try, again.

This bridge was very strong. I ran out of buckets and couldn't hang more to test how much more this bridge could support. But, my guess is that it would have supported another two or three mini-bucket full of coins.

Build your own today and test it for yourself.

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Truss Bridge 2 - Straws & Tape (A Challenge Project)

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Hello there, We're continuing with truss bridges. This project needs more accurate taping, which might be a tad difficult for primary students. However, I've done this project with a group of 3rd graders, and they were able to build sufficient truss bridges.

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Introduction: Straw Rockets

Hello there,

I usually do 10 projects in a school year (try to do a project a month for most classrooms, and do a few more for my child's classroom), and I try to mix it up so that kids and I don't get bored. BUT this is one project that I go back to every year because kids ABSOLUTELY love this project.

I collect $10/student/year to cover the material expenses, so I'm always searching for inexpensive materials. If you have any ideas, please let me know. Thanks in advance.

Before we start building our strawckets, I explain Newton's Second Law, which says Force = mass x acceleration (I use mass and weight interchangeably in the classrooms).

Over the years, I've learned one thing from the kids of all ages and grades - adults consistently underestimate their ability to create and problem-solve. So, I cover the Newton's Second Law in Kindergarten classes, too, but I use addition instead of multiplication and use visual aids. What I want them to understand is the relationship between the three variables.

If the force is constant, then if mass goes up, then acceleration goes down. If the mass goes down, acceleration goes up.

The idea for the project comes from The Tech Museum in San Jose, but I've developed worksheets and background info that go with the project on my own. I usually take these into the classrooms, but I'll skip them here.

Step 1: Gather Your Supplies

Supplies List:

Boba straws (these are wider straws for pearl drinks served at restaurants, and Asian smoothie shops)

8 1/2 in x 2 3/4in strips of paper (fold a copy paper width-wise half, and then half again, giving you four pieces of 8 1/2 in x 2 3/4in strips)

Index cards or pieces of cardstock paper

Scotch Tape

Scissors

Step 2: Fold, Cut, & Tape

1. Fold a piece of copy paper width-wise half, and then half again, giving you four pieces of 8 1/2 in x 2 3/4 in strips.

2. Cut a piece of 8 1/2 in x 2 3/4 in strip of paper.

3. Put a piece of tape on the paper (as see in the photo). This great idea came from a 1st grader two years ago. Before that, I used to tape it while rolled up around the straw.

Step 3: Roll & Tape

Wrap the paper around the straw and tape down the seam. Make sure it doesn't stick to the straw, and that the straw can slide in and out easily.

Step 4: Making a Nose Cone

1. Flatten out one end.

2. Fold it in go create a triangular cone.

3. After creating the cone, put a piece of tape around it to prevent the air from escaping.

Now, put the partially built rocket on your straw and blow it. It won't fly very well.

Step 5: On to the Fins

Now, cut out fins from a piece of an index card and tape it on the rocket. Any place you choose.

When I do this project with K to 2nd graders, I usually cut the index cards in half and hand them out. I want to restrict the size of the fins they can create.

Step 6: Done

1. Now, blow it and see how it flies.

2. If it doesn't fly well, tweak it. Take it apart or build another one to make it fly better.

Engineering is all about failure and overcoming that failure.

Step 7: Additional Comments:

When I do this project, I give the students two challenges:

1. Farthest distance

2. Trickiest rocket - boomerang and tight spiral (what I'm looking for is an indication that there was some thought behind the design)

Sometimes I change things around by asking the kids for accuracy, but they kids are pretty challenged year after year by these two challenges.

Step 8: Some Awesome Designs From Elementary School Kids:

Curiosity. Imagination. Perseverance. And FAIL SPECTACULARLY!

These are the things we talk about during our science project time. Failure is OK, as long as you learn from it and keep going. And if you're going to fail, push the envelope and fail spectacularly!

Students often come up to me and ask what the right answer is or how to do it right. And I tell them that there is no one right answer. There are many possible right answers, and they should try to find as many as they could. In a given class period, some highly self-motivated students design, test, and make more than five strawkets.

I hope you have a lot of fun with this project.

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Hello there, I usually do 10 projects in a school year (try to do a project a month for most classrooms, and do a few more for my child's classroom), and I try to mix it up so that kids and I don't get bored.

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I love Newton's Second Law, because it's easy for people to understand.

Force = Mass x Acceleration.

I use this all the time when I do projects with students. Whether it's a kindergarten class or a sixth-grade class, I write F = ma on the whiteboard and explain the relationship between them.
On flat surface (1st diagram):

The total of all the forces acting on our vehicle will result in acceleration.

How fast the vehicle will accelerate will depend on the size of the force acting on the vehicle.

When the air in the balloon is pushed out of the straw through the back, the balloon is pushed forward. When the balloon is pushed forward and is taped to the vehicle, the vehicle moves forward with the balloon.

F = ma On a ramp (2nd diagram):

The total of all the forces acting on our vehicle will result in acceleration.

How fast the vehicle will accelerate will depend on the size of the force acting on the vehicle.

When the air in the balloon is pushed out of the straw through the back, the balloon is pushed forward. When the balloon is pushed forward and is taped to the vehicle, the vehicle moves forward with the balloon.

F = ma = [F(Normal) - F(GravityY)] + [F(Balloon) + F(GravityX) - F(Ground friction)] = F (Balloon) - F (Ground friction)
Actually, F=ma is too simple. What it really means is that F = ma = F (Balloon) - F (Ground friction). But in most cases, we assume F (Ground friction/Resistance) = 0 on smooth surfaces because it's very, very small.

If the ramp is smooth, F (Ground friction) = 0, too. F (Ground friction) depends the smoothness of the surfaces, not the angle of inclination. And conveniently, [F(Normal) - F(GravityY)] = 0, because they are equal and opposite forces.

So, the long equation is shortened to F = ma = [F(Balloon) + F(GravityX)].

NOTE 1:

In kindergarten, I use addition/subtraction to get them to understand the relationship between the three. If F is constant, and m is big, a is little and vice versa.

NOTE 2:

If you want to solve for F(GravityX), the mathematical equation is

F(GravityX) = F(Gravity) x sine(angle).

If you want to solve for F(GravityY), the mathematical equation is

F(GravityY) = F(Gravity) x cosine(angle).

NOTE 3:

In More Air-Powered 2, Frictional Forces, F(Ground Friction) is not 0.

The car on the carpet will not travel as far as the car on the smooth surface.

The difference in the distance traveled is the force lost due to friction.

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I love Newton's Second Law, because it's easy for people to understand. Force = Mass x Acceleration. I use this all the time when I do projects with students. Whether it's a kindergarten class or a sixth-grade class, I write F = ma on the whiteboard and explain the relationship between them.

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There is nothing like the whimsy of a mobile. Watching objects sway and dance in a mobile is calming and pretty to look at. But here's a little secret....mobiles are also full of engineering! Oh yes, that sweet DIY mobile you are making is chock full of opportunities to learn about some basic engineering/physics principles including tension and the center of gravity. Read on to find out how!
This post contains affiliate links.
Materials

Instructions
Note: This mobile can be made from sticks and twigs that are not yarn wrapped too!

Step One Assemble your yarn sticks. Chose three longer sticks that are about the same size that can form a triangle.

Step Two Overlap the ends of two sticks at a roughly 60-degree angle. Cut a piece of string and knot it around the two twigs at the joint. Wrap the joint tightly and knot the end to secure in place.

Step Three Add the third stick to form a triangle and wrap and secure the joints as directed in Step Two.

Step Four Assemble your twigs in the order you would like them to hang. We arranged ours by size with the longest sticks at the top.

Step Five Cut a piece of string about 6" longer than you want the mobile length to be. Tie one end to the center of the bottom chord of the stick triangle.

Step Six Place the first stick about 2" below the bottom chord of the triangle. Wrap the long string around the center point of gravity of the stick and tie a knot.

Step Seven Important! Test your mobile after adding each stick. Hold up the triangle with one hand and pull down on the string with the other hand. You want your stick to be suspended roughly parallel to the ground. You need to pull the string taut to test this! If the stick is hanging at an angle loosen the knot and move it over slightly to find the rough center of gravity for the stick.

Step Eight Repeat Step Seven for the remaining sticks you are hanging.

Step Nine Add a weight to the end of your mobile! We added a rock but you can also add a pinecone or other decorative element as long as has some weight to it. This will help keep the string taut.

Step Ten Add a string to the top of the mobile and hang it!

Want to see how much the tension on the string affects the way the sticks hang? Check out the demonstration images below. See how much straighter the whole mobile hangs when their is a weight (rock) on the bottom?

Tips

1. First try adjusting the string to one side or the other.

2. Make sure the knot is tight enough to hold the string, a loose loop will not hold the stick in place.

3. Try twisting the stick at the knot to move the knot to either the top or side of the stick. If the knot is positioned on the bottom of the stick it will not hang properly.

If your sticks are still not hanging straight ish when the center string is held in tension then try the following steps on each stick that is hanging at too much of an angle:

Center of gravity The center of gravity or mass is the point at which an object is perfectly in balance. This is not necessarily the middle point of an object if the object is not uniform in size. You may notice that sticks that are straight and roughly the same circumference throughout will have their center of gravity at the stick midpoint. But if you are working with any sticks that are bent or not uniform in shape, the center of gravity will be off to one side. For more information on the center of gravity check out this wikipedia article.

Tension and Compression The other secret to this mobile is the concept of tension. String and other cable like materials are wonderfully strong in tension but awful in compression. Tension is a force that pulls on an object. Compression is a force that pushes on an object. When you pull a string it become tight and can carry loads; when you push in a string it can't hold a thing but instead bunches up. The mobile string gets taut the more weight is added on the bottom. When it's not taut, the sticks tend to hang at angles but when the string is pulled tightly they should hang roughly parallel to the ground. See the demonstration image above.

More about Tension & Compression As I mentioned, cable works well in tension but not in compression. So what materials are the opposite i.e. work well in compression but not in tension? Concrete and stone. Ever wonder why you see buildings made of concrete with metal rebar embedded in the concrete? Well, concrete is amazingly strong when you push on it but if you were strong enough to pull it apart it would crumble. Enter rebar. Rebar are steel rods inserted as framework within concrete structures. Rebar, like cable, is super strong when you pull on it but bends if you push on it. Pair it with concrete and you've got the perfect match of materials to perform well under BOTH compression and tension.

Okay so while I love mobiles for their fanciful design I love them even more because they are wonderful demonstrations of some basic engineering principles. Here are some physics and engineering concepts you can talk about with respect to mobiles:

Looks Like

Cable Bridges. There are two types of cable bridges: Suspension bridges and Cable stayed bridges. Most of us are familiar with suspension bridges, which essentially consist of two towers with main cables suspended between the towers and smaller cables holding up the horizontal sections of the bridge. Cable stayed bridges are similar but instead of having two main cables from which smaller cables hang, they have large cables directly anchored to the ground/bridge surface. Both types of bridges rely on the principle of tension and the fact that metal cable is very lightweight in relation to the loads it can carry when it is held taut. Modern day bridges which are capable of spanning extremely long distances would not exist without the exploitation of this concept. The San Francisco Bay Bridge which is made up a number of suspension bridges connected together, is almost 4.5 miles long! For more information on bridges start with this great explanation on wikipedia.

Conclusion

I bet you never thought a DIY mobile was actually a engineering project...well now you know!

Want more engineering for kids delivered in fun projects? Try these ideas:

Spread creative ideas like wildfire: Pin them!

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Engineering for Kids: Twirling Twig Mobile

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Engineering for Kids: Twirling Twig Mobile. Mobiles are a great demonstration of engineering/physics principles. Read on to find out how.

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Did you know you know you can make a square bubble? I'm always on the lookout for any STEM project with a WOW factor and today's engineering project for kids probably tops that list. I mean just look at the bubble below- yes, THAT IS A BUBBLE!

I am a big believer of hands-on education; I think kids and adults learn best with life experiences to back up a subject. In the case of today's project you and your kids can learn structural engineering by building 3-dimensional bubble wands and making an inverted bubble cube that mimics a tensile structure. This simple demonstration will introduce a complex engineering concept to kids visually.

This post contains affiliate links to products I love and recommend to my readers.
Materials

Instructions

I recommend starting with a pyramid shape for your first geometric bubble wand.

Pyramid (Tetrahedron) Bubble Wand

Step One Cut your straws. First cut each straw in half, then cut in half again. You will get 4 straw sections from each straw.

Step Two Thread a pipe cleaner through one straw and bend the end of the pipe cleaner to secure it at the end.

Step Three Thread two more straws onto the pipe cleaner.

Step Four Bend the long end of the pipe cleaner back to meet the starting point and twist the two ends around each other.

Step Five Add two more straw sections onto the end of the pipe cleaner.*

Step Six Thread the pipe cleaner through one of the adjacent straw sections.

Step Seven Add one more straw section and bend it back to one of the straw joints to form a pyramid.

Step Eight Thread the pipe cleaner through an adjacent straw section to secure everything in place. If desired, add a straight section of straw onto the end of the pipe cleaner to form a handle.

* Add additional pipe cleaners as necessary and twist the ends together to secure.

Bubble Cube Wand

Step One Cut your straws. First cut each straw in half, then cut in half again. You will get 4 straw sections from each straw.

Step Two Thread a pipe cleaner through one straw and bend the end of the pipe cleaner to secure it at the end.

Step Three Thread three more straws onto the pipe cleaner.

Step Four Bend the long end of the pipe cleaner back to meet the starting point and twist the two ends of the pipe cleaner around each other. You will now have a square shape.

Step Five Add three more straw sections onto the end of the long pipe cleaner.*

Step Six Thread the pipe cleaner through one of the adjacent straw sections.

Step Seven Add two more straw sections.

Step Eight Bend the shape to form two sides of a cube and thread the end of the pipe cleaner through one of the straw sections on the edge of the cube.

Step Nine Repeat Step Eight to form another side to the cube.

Step Ten Add one final straw section to complete the cube. Thread the pipe cleaner through an adjacent straw section to secure the final shape. If desired, add a straight section of straw onto the end of the pipe cleaner to form a handle.

* Add additional pipe cleaners as necessary and twist the ends together to secure.

You're done! Now it's time to make a square bubble!

Make the Square Bubble

To make your square bubble have a tall container full of bubble solution. You can use homemade solution or store bought, we tried both and each worked well. Carefully dip your wand into the solution; some frothy bubbles will form on the top of the solution as the straws are submerged. You can scoop them away with a spoon. Now lift the wand out of the solution SLOWLY. You should see a bubble cube with multiple faces! If you don't, dip the wand into the solution again until you get an inverted bubble cube.

The bubble cube can be tricky to make at times. I found that depending on the condition of the bubble solution and breeze we were sometimes able to make cubic bubble after cubic bubble every time and sometimes it took many attempts of dipping the wand in the solution to make one. Don't give up if you don't get a cubic bubble right away! Try it again when the bubble solution has had time to settle. Also sometimes gently tapping the sides of the wand causes the solution to move and change and cubic bubble to form.

For the best bubbles you will want to avoid too much froth on the surface of the solution. Scoop away the bubbly froth that forms with a spoon as necessary.

This project can also be done without straws by simply bending pipe cleaners into 3D shapes. This will help avoid the bubbles that form on the surface of the solution when the wand is submerged. I liked using the straws to help give rigidity to the shapes, however.

When making 3D shapes that have more than 4 sides try and make your wand as an extruded shape. We tried making a wand in the shape of a dodecahedron and it got complex quickly and was too large to dip into the bubble solution.

Make your own shapes! Explore what happens to your bubbles when you add more straw section onto your wand at the joints. Expand your wands with additional sections and check out the cool bubbles that form as a result.

Do this project outside or over a watertight surface. Plenty of bubble solution will drip off the wands.

Wind and even a slight breeze will blow these bubbles apart so do the project in a place with still air.

Tips & Troubleshooting

3D Bubble Wands

The great thing about this project is that you get two bubble activities in one. Once you and your kids are done making the bubble cube, these wands can be used like a standard bubble wand, only you won't get standard bubbles....These wands make fantastic bubbles with long trails and lots of connected spherical shapes. My kids arguably had more fun with this part of the project. See the wands in action below!

Looks Like

Tensile Structures. Today I wanted to introduce you to the concept of tensile structures. Tensile structures are formed when a material or cable is stretched and held in tension between two or more anchors. Think suspension bridges or shade sails. They are often used to make roofs or tents. Tensile structures themselves are not always suitable for carrying large loads but they are perfect for covering large areas with a minimal amount of material and are extremely light.

Our square bubble has similarities to tensile structures because they are formed as the soapy solution is stretched both between the rigid edges of the wand and the joints that form in the bubble solution itself. For more examples of what can be done with tensile structures be sure to check out the work of Felix Candela, Antonio Gaudi, Santiago Calatrava, and Frei Otto to name a few of the great designers and engineers who have used them in their projects.

More STEM Project Ideas

If making a square bubble and other geometric shapes out of bubble solution piqued your child's interest in STEAM projects I've got more ideas for hands-on learning fun here:
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Learn how to make a square bubble that mimics tensile structures. This bubble cube can also be made in other geometric shapes!

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Chromatography for kids sounds intimidating doesn't it? It shouldn't though, simply put, chromatography is the process of separating mixtures. That's it! In today's art project/easy science experiment for kids we are going to prove that black isn't always black....and you can actually see the colors in black by separating them out using chromatography. This project is based on the well known black marker and coffee filter experiment for kids, but because I love a good cross disciplinary project we expanded the idea to make a fashion statement as well: Chromatography Bags! Perfect for Fabric Month as well!
This post contains affiliate links to products I love and recommend to my readers, plus it keeps this little blog o'mine afloat! Thank you!
Materials

Instructions
Here's how ours looked the next day:

Step One Using a black marker ask your child to draw a picture or design on their blank bag. Designs that alternate a thick coat of black marker and white space in between will show the most obvious results.

Step Two Place the bag on a plate.

Step Three Give your child an eyedropper and a small cup of rubbing alcohol and ask them to start dropping the liquid on the drawing. Get that bag really soaked!

Step Four Some color will begin separating immediately. Allow the bags to dry over the course of several hours or overnight. The color will continue to separate.

Step Five Check on the color! The black should have separated into other colors. We had a lot of blue show up and a hint of brown/red.

You're done! Tote 'em around and show off the science experiment!

Here's Mama's version:

Tips

DO NOT USE PERMANENT MARKERS! They won't work.

Since we used washable markers I do not suggest washing these.

This experiment can also be performed using white coffee filters or paper towels in lieu of the bags. If you choose to do the experiment with coffee filters use water in lieu of the rubbing alcohol.

We tried substituting water for rubbing alcohol with the canvas bags but the results were less than spectacular.

Looks Like

Keith Haring. The "graffiti" look of this project reminded me of the work of Keith Haring, a very popular artist from the 1980's whose work crossed the line between street art, fine art, and in my humble opinion, graphic design. His images are immediately recognizable to many of us and I have always loved the simplicity and straightforwardness of his work. When I lived in New York his art seemed to be everywhere, and his influence can be seen on a new generation of artists like Shepard Fairey, whose work blurs the line between graffiti, artistic expression, and social activism.

Conclusion & More

Science and art are at again with this easy project that explores chromatography for kids! As usual my kids were skeptical about doing this project (they get that skepticism from me) but were excited to see the results of the experiment. And my daughter couldn't wait to get her hands on the bags when they were done, she LOVES putting things in bags and carrying them around. Anyhoo this was a fun little design project for mom too!
And don't miss out on more art and science here on Babble Dabble Do! Your child's inner Keith Haring thanks you! Subscribe below or like us on FB.
And speaking of Tinkerlab, it's one of my favorite blogs, and blogger Rachelle Doorley has a new book coming out! Oh my goodness I can't wait! You can preorder it on Amazon: Tinkerlab: A Hands-On Guide for Little Inventors

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Science & Art Experiment: Chromatography for Kids - Babble Dabble Do

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Chromatography for kids sounds intimidating doesn't it? It shouldn't though, simply put, chromatography is the process of separating mixtures. That's it! In today's art project/easy science experiment for kids we are going to prove that black isn't always black....and you can actually see the colors in black by separating them out using chromatography.

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Most paper crafts revolve around creating something fancy out of paper, but did you know that you could use paper as a structural material? Our simple paper building blocks are a great way to demonstrate engineering for kids. Take a material that is weak in and of itself, fold it into a robust shape, like a triangle, and viola, you are now building with paper!

How strong is it? Well, make a few blocks, build a paper structure, and put it to the test! You'll never guess what we tested ours with......check out the results below.
Note: This post contains affiliate links to products I recommend to my readers.
I originally spotted the idea for paper blocks in one of our favorite books Big Book of Science Things to Make and Do. Simple, colorful, and educational, the best type of project to do!

If you love paper toys, check out our Play Pack:

Age Appropriateness: 6+, Adult help with cutting and scoring

Materials

Notes:

Our building blocks are based on a 1-inch module, increase the size proportionally to make bigger blocks

Adults should be in charge of Steps One-Four

Kids can take over at Step Five

Instructions:

Step One Select your first piece of paper and place it on your cutting mat. Score your paper vertically at the 1-inch and 2-inch marks and trim your paper completely at the 3-inch mark. To score paper, lightly drag your Exacto blade along your straightedge, making a light line in the paper. This will make folding easier.

Step Two Repeat the scoring and trimming process with each color of paper.

Step Three Trim the lengths of scored paper crosswise into 1-inch strips. If you have a paper cutter this would be the fastest method for cutting. I don't have a paper cutter (I know, can you believe it, a paper lover like me without a paper cutter?) so I trimmed it the old fashioned way with an Exacto and a straightedge.

Step Four Cut some paper "planks," 1-inch strips of paper that are not scored. They can be 3 to 6 inches long.

Step Five Fold your 1-inch strips into thirds along the scored lines.

Step Six Tape the open edges together to form a triangle.

Step Seven Repeat folding and cutting until you have a bunch of blocks assembled.

You're done! Now it's time to build!

Start positioning the triangles in a row alternating between triangles that are right side up and upside down. Add a plank or two on top of each layer. When you have a few layers you can test how strong your paper structure is by balancing objects on top of it!

Our heavy metal straightedge was the first test and....it passed! But the piece de la resistance was my son's desire to balance Oreos on top of the structure. His paper structure definitely passed the "Two Oreo Test!"

Looks Like

Shigeru Ban, one of my all time favorite architects. He actually builds out of paper, not just furniture or objects but BUILDINGS! Check out his paper Church here: Takatori Catholic Church

He typically uses paper tubes as structural elements in many innovative, sometimes temporary, often permanent structures. His recent Cardboard Cathedral in New Zealand is a great example of the versatility of paper Cardboard Cathedral

Paper Structures

I think I had the most fun building with these simple paper blocks! Using multicolored paper definitely glammed up this simple science project for kids that illustrates basic engineering principles. Have fun with selecting objects to test the strength of your finished structure. Just be sure to pick objects that are easy to balance otherwise your paper structure might topple over due to balance issues rather than "folding" under the pressure of weight, no pun intended!

Who would have thought paper crafts for kids could be used to teach engineering?

It includes 7 paper toys you can download, print, and play with today!

Fill your child's life with more art, design, science, and engineering!
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Science & Engineering for Kids: Paper Building Blocks

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Most paper crafts revolve around creating something fancy out of paper, but did you know that you could use paper as a structural material? Our simple paper building blocks are a great way to demonstrate engineering for kids.

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For our third and final straw project (for now....) I'm completely geeking out with this straw geodesic dome & sphere. I have pretty much lived and breathed architecture my entire life (my father is an architect as well) so I have been familiar with geodesic domes practically since I learned to walk...okay maybe not quite that long but you get the picture.....so I'm really curious if everyone else out there is as fascinated by them as me. If you are please leave a comment below telling us your favorite example of a Geodesic Dome!
For those of you that are just tuning into domes scroll down to the "Looks Like" section of the post for a quick primer on domes and their master, the one and only Bucky Fuller, as architects and designers go he considered a legend.
We have a fabulous Geodesic Climbing Dome in our backyard that has provided a lot of fun for my kids over the past few years. My son and I tried to replicate it when building straw structures out of triangles, you can see our version here, but it wasn't a true geodesic dome. Building a true geodesic dome out of straws involves some math. But don't be scared by that! I promise it's only one simple equation that I you can do with a calculator! I also wanted to create a tutorial that makes it about as easy to make a geodesic dome out of straws as humanly possible. I think I got pretty close.

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This post contains affiliate links to products I love and recommend to my readers, plus it keeps this little blog o'mine afloat! Thank you!
Materials

Straight Straws like these For a dome you will need 33 straws (18 of one color and 15 of a second color). For a full sphere you will need 60 Straws (30 of each color)

Chenille Stems AKA Pipe Cleaners

Scissors

Ruler

Instructions
To visualize this project ahead of time here's the basic plan:

1. Cut straws into two different lengths (Strut A & B)

2. Make 6 pentagon sections

3. Join them together in the shape of a dome

Yes, it's that easy.
Note: We will be cutting two sizes of straws. For ease of understanding it's best to cut the different sizes from different colors. That way it's easy to keep track of which are the longer struts and which are the shorter.
Basic Pentagon

Step One Select one color to be Strut A and one to be Strut B. Strut A will be longer than Strut B. For Strut A simply cut each straw in half. Make a total of 35 Strut A's.

Step Two Strut B should be smaller than Strut A by a factor of 0.885. To determine what length to cut Strut B measure Strut A then multiply that number by 0.885. Now you have the size of Strut B. Here's an example:

For an 8" long straw Strut A will be 4" and strut B will be 4" x 0.885 = 3.54". Round up to 3.5" here people, you don't have to be that accurate! Just get close to the ratio. Hint- Cut one strut B length and use it as a guide to cut the rest of the straws to that size.

Step Three Cut a total of 30 Strut Bs.

Step Four Make some pentagons! Strut A will be the outside of each pentagon and Strut B will be the middle sections. Take (1) Strut A and feed a pipe cleaner through it. Bend back the end to secure it in place around the straw. Join additional pipe cleaners on as necessary to make one continuous length of pipe cleaner by twisting the ends of pipe cleaners together tightly.

Step Five Thread 4 more straws onto the pipe cleaners for a total of 5 straws) then bend into the shape of a pentagon and secure the ends together.

Step Six Thread (2) Strut B's onto the long end of the pipe cleaner (adding more pipe cleaners as necessary) then thread the pipe cleaner into an adjacent straw and out the other side.

Step Seven Thread (2) more Strut B's through the pipe cleaner and an adjacent straw.

Step Eight Thread 1 final Strut B onto the pipe cleaner and then secure all Strut B's at the center of the pentagon. It helps to wrap the pipe cleaner around the joint of one pair of strut B's and then wrap it around the second pair. Thread the end of the pipe clearer back into one of the straw struts to conceal it.

Step Nine Make 5 more pentagons as described above. For a full sphere grab a glass of lemonade and make 11 more pentagons!

Make the Dome

Now that you have the basic shape that will form the dome all you need to do is connect them together. For a dome you will need 5 Strut B's to form the base. If you are making a full sphere you can eliminate the extra struts as the pentagons from one side will join the second side of the sphere.

Dome- For ease of reference I have shaded in the center pentagon in this visual tutorial. Trust me, it look more complicated than it is.

Step One Take one pentagon and thread a pipe cleaner through one side, secure at the end. This will be your center pentagon.

Step Two Thread the long end of the pipe cleaner through one Strut B of a second pentagon. Make sure the pointed sides of the shapes are facing OUT. Pull them together.

Step Three Repeat Steps one and two to connect a third, fourth, and fifth pentagon at the joints of the center pentagon. Pull tightly.

Step Four Take the (5) single Strut B's and feed them through the base of the row of pentagon at the bottom, alternating pentagons and struts. Pull tightly.

Sphere

Step One Take one pentagon and thread a pipe cleaner through one side, secure at the end. This will be your center pentagon.

Step Two Thread the long end of the pipe cleaner through one Strut B of a second pentagon. Make sure the pointed sides of the shapes are facing OUT. Pull them together.

Step Three Repeat Steps one and two to connect a third, fourth, and fifth pentagon at the joints of the center pentagon. Pull tightly.

Step Four Repeat Steps one through three to make a second half of a sphere.

Step Five Join the two side together! Thread a pipe cleaner through Strut B of one pentagon on one sphere. Secure at the end.

Step Six Instead of threading single Strut B's around the base as we did to make a dome, you will use the Strut B's of the second sphere as the connectors. Thread the pipe cleaner through one Strut B on the second sphere half. The second sphere half should be positioned facing the opposite direction of first half. Continue threading pipe cleaners through the bottom loop of both halves to form a complete sphere. Secure the starting and ending points together.

Why are geodesic dome so fascinating to designers?
You may think it looks complicated and but it's actually really easy to make both the dome and sphere once you see the pattern. In all fairness I built this dome and sphere. My kids are just a wee bit young to tackle this project, although my baby had fun trying to thread pipe cleaners through straws... I know it takes some time but breaking this project down to basic shapes made it very easy to build and understand. Here's my son with the dome so you can see how big it actually is.
The Math Behind the Dome
About Geodesic Domes
*Theoretically a 1-frequency dome is possible but it makes the shape of an icosahedron, which doesn't quite have a spherical shape. More on Domes
Geodesic domes are very efficient structures. Triangles are inherently stable shapes, so creating structures out of interlocking triangles makes very strong, yet incredibly lightweight structures that can be adapted on a small level, like our project here, to a massive level as in the Montreal Biosphere constructed for the 1967 World's Fair.

The first step in designing a geodesic dome is to determine the frequency of the dome, denoted by the letter V. At a minimum you need a frequency of 2*. In simplified terms it means you need 2 different strut or chord lengths. The more struts/chords you have the more rounded the final shape will be. The straw geodesic dome/sphere here is 2V. 3V and 4V domes are also very popular t make. If you want to build one or even a more complex dome check out this geodesic dome calculator.

If you can't get enough Geodesic domes here are a few more places you should check out:

Looks Like

Buckminster Fuller. Of.course. In the architecture world Bucky Fuller is a legend. He ranks up there with Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier. Are you familiar with him? Well you are now. He didn't invent the Geodesic Dome, it was actually invented by Walther Bauersfeld, but Bucky Fuller made it a household word. His love of geodesic domes has spread to generations of young architecture students in the past half-century. He saw the potential in geodesic triangulated structures to build strong yet lightweight super structures was awarded patents for a number of his designs. Bucky Fuller is also renowned in design circles for his forward thinking philosophies. He designed the Dymaxion House in the 1940s to be a mass produced type of housing. Imagine if houses were made like cars in factories. In my opinion this makes him the predecessor to the pre-fab home movement. He also developed theories about the world's limited amount of natural resources and was a environmental visionary. For these reasons and more he is a hero of mine and many, many other designers.
P.S. This would make a fantastic STEM project for older kids! If you enjoyed this engineering project for kids check out Tensile Bubbles and Paper Building Blocks for a more structural fun.
Conclusion
Don't miss out on more STEM projects here on Babble Dabble Do! Your child's inner Buckminster Fuller thanks you! Subscribe below, like us on FB, or follow along on Pinterest! Visit Babble Dabble Do's profile on Pinterest.
My father the architect was visiting us this week and helped us make our geodesic straw dome. His verdict on this project? "Incredible!" He was impressed at how we broke down the construction into a few simple repeatable steps using very basic materials. You can do it too! Maybe you want to make one to explore geometry with kids or engineering ideas or maybe just for decorative purposes, I mean who wouldn't want to hang a geodesic sphere from the ceiling? Ha! In any case I hope you are inspired to try making one and join the ranks of Bucky Fuller fans worldwide!

Now that you are pumped about geometry here are three amazing toys you might want to consider adding to your collection, they might just turn your kids into the next Bucky Fuller:

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Engineering for Kids: Straw Geodesic Dome & Sphere - Babble Dabble Do

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For our third and final straw project (for now....) I'm completely geeking out with this straw geodesic dome & sphere. I have pretty much lived and breathed architecture my entire life (my father is an architect as well) so I have been familiar with geodesic domes practically since I learned to walk...okay maybe not quite that long but you get the picture.....so I'm really curious if everyone else out there is as fascinated by them as me.

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Engineering for kids can be fun! And colorful! Building with toothpicks is a classic kid's engineering project, today we are scaling it up by building Skewer Structures. Using bamboo skewers in lieu of toothpicks means these structures get big FAST and are relatively rigid. If you've been itching to try an engineering project with kids keep it simple and try using these two household items you probably already have on hand.

I recently polled you guys over on FB to find out what projects you want to see more of here on Babble Dabble Do and was wholly impressed with the number of you that asked for more engineering for kids. That made my architectural loving heart skip a beat! I mean I geek out at this stuff but I loved hearing that other parents and educators are as excited about hands-on engineering projects for kids as I am. Certainly the STE(A)M movement is helping people see why learning about engineering principles is so important for kids. To me, hands-on building projects are the best way to learn how things work. You can do all the reading you want in a book but putting those ideas into practice really solidifies concepts.
This post contains affiliate links to products I love and recommend to my readers, plus it keeps this little blog o'mine afloat! Thank you!
Materials

A note on the clay: We used colorful non-hardening clay for this project but any clay should work. Here area couple other options to try if you have them on hand: Air Dry Clay, Sculpting Clay, play dough

Instructions

Step One Break off chunks of clay and shape them into ½" to ¾' balls. You can do this either as you work or prior to starting.

Step Two Build! Use the clay balls at the joints between the skewers. I recommend starting with a triangular shape but you can be more free form.

Note: As the clay hardens and dries the structure will become more brittle. Either consider this an exercise to be completed and cleaned up OR if you want to keep it for a little while I recommend building it on a tray or board so that you can move it around easily.

That's it! The higher and more complex the structure the more you will have to adjust/press the joints together.

My kids and I each built a structure and then I combined them all into one mega- structure!

One thing I love about working with kids is seeing how they interpret the materials at hand. My 5-year-old daughter decided to roll out the clay into flat pieces and them wrap it around the skewers to add a decorative element. She was more included to make a colorful simple structure while my 7-year-old son was interested in building big and quick.

Looks Like

Gustave Eiffel. As structural engineers go he is probably the world's only household name, am I right? And that's because Gustave Eiffel designed one the world's most beloved and recognizable landmarks: the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It was built for the 1889 Paris World's Fair. While today we are used to modern looking structurally based towers, structures like it were completely unheard of in the late 1800's and many people were both dazzled and aghast by it. The Eiffel Tower set the precedent for sculptural, structural monuments and architecture that are so commonplace today.

Did you know that Eiffel was also responsible for engineering the structure within the Statue of Liberty? The breadth and diversity of his career is amazing, besides the two landmarks mentioned above he designed numerous bridges and a system of locks for the French designed (and never built) Panama Canal. One of the things I find most interesting about his career was his pursuit to standardize structural components, particularly with respect to bridges, kind of like a kit of parts. His contributions to engineering /architecture and world heritage rightfully make him one the world's most beloved engineers. Since our skewer structures were part engineering, part sculptural I found them much aligned with Gustave Eiffel and his exploitation of the beauty of structures.

Conclusion

You might be shocked to know that the best engineering class I took in architectural school involved NO MATH. Absolutely none. All we did was build structures out of craft sticks. That's it. For a whole quarter. And guess what? We built some pretty killer structures. And learned a ton about engineering. Why? Because we were testing out ideas with our hands, not relying on abstract formulas to learn how materials and designs behave under stress. For that reason alone I love projects like Skewer Structures. The tactile experience of building does wonders in teaching kids what types of structures work and what doesn't. They also turned out to be some pretty lovely sculptural pieces!

More

If you enjoy projects that teach engineering for kids check out these three "building" posts we've done:

There are also a number of cool books out there to get you going with more engineering ideas for kids and parents/educators. Here are some good places to start:

And don't miss out on more engineering for kids here on Babble Dabble Do! Your child's inner Gustav Eiffel thanks you! Subscribe below or like us on FB!
If you enjoyed this post SHARE IT!

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Engineering for Kids: Skewer Structures - Babble Dabble Do

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Engineering for kids can be fun! And colorful! Building with toothpicks is a classic kid's engineering project, today we are scaling it up by building Skewer Structures. Using bamboo skewers in lieu of toothpicks means these structures get big FAST and are relatively rigid.

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POSTED BY
Carolyn Erickson

I remembered learning how to make a rubber-band powered boat out of a Styrofoam plate when I was young, and just knew it would make for some thrifty summer fun. This project was a hit at my house. Kids making their own toys - what's not to love? It's frugal and it keeps the kids busy during the summer.

The supplies are simple. You'll need a rubber band, scissors, marker, straight edge and some type of material that will float and can be cut with scissors. We didn't have any foam plates on hand, so we used a piece of cardboard that we covered with duct tape to make it more water-resistant.

The exact measurements are not really important here. Since you'll be using "found" (and free) materials, adapt the proportions as needed.

7. Now that your propeller is wound, just place the boat in a bathtub or backyard pool and let it go!

See the video tutorial: rubber band boat

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Kids' crafts: Make a rubber-band powered boat - Living On The Cheap

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POSTED BY Carolyn Erickson I remembered learning how to make a rubber-band powered boat out of a Styrofoam plate when I was young, and just knew it would make for some thrifty summer fun. This project was a hit at my house. Kids making their own toys - what's not to love?

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I prompted my kids with the problem of needing to build a Thanksgiving table for their family because the one we have isn't big enough! The question was: Who can build a Thanksgiving table that can hold the most weight? They were given 5 pieces of white paper, 6 inches of masking tape and told to go to work. At first I got a few looks of confusion on how they were going to make a table that could hold "food" AKA books up. After about 30 minutes of thinking and building we had our "competition". The kids were amazed to see how successful their tables were. Who would have thought you could build a table that strong out of paper?!?!

This table held 82 chapter books! Wow!

This was so much fun!

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How Much Can Your Thanksgiving Table Hold?

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I prompted my kids with the problem of needing to build a Thanksgiving table for their family because the one we have isn't big enough! The question was: Who can build a Thanksgiving table that can hold the most weight? They were given 5 pieces of white paper, 6 inches of masking tape and told to go to work.

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How to make your own Linkages

We have been playing around with linkages the last few weeks at the Makerspace, and have gotten a few questions from families about how they could make their own. It turns out that linkages are a wonderful activity for tinkering at home because they are so easy to make with simple, easily accessible materials.

The first thing you will need is cardboard, as much as you can get. While you can buy cardboard sheets from Uline we recommend re-using cardboard boxes, like from online purchases or pizza deliveries. Then you will need to get a few tools: a box cutter, something to cut on like a cutting mat (or even another piece of cardboard), a ruler and pencil.

Measure out 1.25 inch strips on your cardboard and start cutting! Your strips dont have to be perfect, so just focus on using that box cutter correctly (cut across from yourself, not towards!).

As a side note, cardboard has corrugation (those waves between the top and bottom of the cardboard sheet) and we have found that our cardboard linkages are stronger when we cut down with the waves instead of across them. You do not have to cut with the corrugation though! Your linkages will work fine either way you make them.

Then you are going to want to punch some holes in your strips. Generally we just punch the holes where and when we need them, but you can pre-punch holes if you are working with younger makers. Don't worry about making the holes uniform or evenly spaced, we actually think linkages look better when they are asymmetrical. To create the holes we use an awl, but really any sharp pointy object will work, like a sharpened pencil, a screw driver, or a cheap pen. To punch the holes safely we put a piece of foam underneath the cardboard so kids dont have to worry about poking their hands or the tables. You could also use sponges or big stiff bristled brushes.

The last piece of the puzzle are brass fasteners, or brads. You can buy these online, or from any office supply, art, or stationary store in a variety of sizes. We recommend ½ inch, ¾ inch, or 1 inch.

Now we are ready to create some linkages! To start make the simplest linkage, an "X". Put a brass fastener through the holes in 2 card board strips and fold the legs out to secure it in place. Repeat this two more times and then connect your X's end to end. Moving the first two links will cause a chain reaction causing all the other links to move too!

After that try and experiment with squares, and asymmetrical linkages. By adding some simple crafting supplies like scissors, markers, colorful paper and tape you can create fun mechanical toys ranging from grabber arms to beautiful butterflies.

For more inspiration check out the Tinkering Studio and the Moving Toys Workshop.

If you ever do this at home we would LOVE to see what you make! You can tweet at us (@thenewspace) or Instagram us (@makerspace) or send us some photos at nyscimakerspace <at> gmail <dot> com.

-Reid

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We have been playing around with linkages the last few weeks at the Makerspace, and have gotten a few questions from families about how they could make their own. It turns out that linkages are a wonderful activity for tinkering at home because they are so easy to make with simple, easily accessible materials.

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Parachute Drop " Lawrence Hall of Science - 24/7 Science

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Skydivers rely on parachutes to carry them safely to Earth. Test materials like wax paper, a thin plastic bag, and a coffee filter to make and drop mini-parachutes. Which material makes the slowest drop? Enter results online and find out what other experimenters discovered.

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STEM is about all four of those amazing letters! S=science...T=technology...E=engineering...and M=math! I was able to save some of my science budget money this year to invest in MaKey MaKey Boards for our school. My wonderful librarian and I are coordinating efforts to teach our students how to use them! I was a little nervous about setting up a lesson about something based on technology with no background in this product at all. I took a kit home...played around with it with my son...and wow it was amazing how exciting it was when I played my first banana bongo!

My students in fifth grade are two weeks ahead of schedule...so I decided to bring out the Makey Makey Boards...create a lesson linked with lessons found on Scratch and the rest is magic!

Here is what I did...
1. I first showed them the Makey Makey set up video...

2. I shared with them the scientific process and made sure that they knew that it was about trying...testing...troubleshooting...and then sharing!

3. Then, I shared with them how to get to the assignment...I set up a google classroom for the students to enter and find my sheet with direct links on. This is helpful when using one computer and one Makey Makey box per table.

4. Their goal was to first, make an instrument out of what was placed on their table. This is the fun part...on each table I placed a tray with different objects. (veggies, fruits, foil, play dough, school snacks, and treats) They are all great conductors!

5. I give them a piece of aluminum foil to ground themselves to. They can make a bracelet or arm band or even a ring.

6. I then let them have at it! It only took three minutes and I heard music once they got into the google classroom sight.

7. Once they play some music...they then have to create a controller for a game! They can choose Mario Brothers, Pac Man, or Tetris. Each of these games can be found at Scratch: Explore. I then looked for music and games then reviewed them.

I found this on my hunt to teach MaKey MaKey lessons...great fun connection to use if you want to!

8. We finish our fun up with groups able to create an art project that uses graphite to draw pathways that connect to the MaKey MaKey board! Not all groups get to this task...but before we wrap up we complete the sheet and rate the lesson! On a scale of 1-5 we averaged a 5 on this one!

What I learned...using new technology might be scary at first, but the kids pick up on it faster than you think. Give something new a try...you might find out that your kids will love it! And so will you!

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STEM is about all four of those amazing letters! S=science...T=technology...E=engineering...and M=math! I was able to save some of my science budget money this year to invest in MaKey MaKey Boards for our school. My wonderful librarian and I are coordinating efforts to teach our students how to use them!

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In this STEM challenge for kids, children will create a paper plate marble maze game inspired by pinball machines using a paper plate and a marble. This engineering activity is great for kids from kindergarten age up through 4th, 5th and 6th grades!

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This post was originally published May 24, 2016 and has since been updated.
In our most recent science club, I challenged my students to create a pinball-like marble maze game using a paper plate, some basic craft supplies, and marbles. Kids created all kinds of cool structures on their paper plates for their marbles to go through as they tilted the plate different directions using their hands.

See it in action here:

Materials for Paper Plate Pinball Challenge

Directions for Paper Plate Pinball Challenge
If your students are not familiar with pinball machines (yes, we're that old!), watch some pinball machine YouTube videos together. Notice the different ramps, bumpers, and other pinball machine parts.
1. Provide each child with one paper plate and access to various craft supplies. I demonstrated how to create some simple arches using strips of construction paper. I also provided each student with their own individual pack of Wikki Stix. (You can also buy them in large quantities.) You can do this activity with just construction paper and tape, or try other materials as well, like pipe cleaners or straws.

2. Let the kids get busy creating and testing out their pinball machines with marbles.

The kids loved using Wikki Stix to create paths for their marbles.

Some kids used construction paper to create ramps and pockets in their pinball games and even designated point values for different arches!

The kids had a blast with this science project and even got so excited about the activity, they were trading finished pinball plates for their friends to try!

Be sure to check out STEAM Kids book and ebook for even more creative STEM and STEAM ideas!

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STEM Challenge for Kids: Design a Paper Plate Marble Maze - Buggy and Buddy

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In this STEM challenge for kids, children will create a paper plate marble maze game inspired by pinball machines using a paper plate and a marble. This engineering activity is great for kids from kindergarten age up through 4th, 5th and 6th grades! Follow our STEM for Kids Pinterest board!

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Here's your nightly math! Just 5 quick minutes of number fun for kids and parents at home. Read a cool fun fact, followed by math riddles at different levels so everyone can jump in. Your kids will love you for it.

Thanks to fairy tales like Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel, most kids know that cotton is spun into thread, and thread is woven into cloth, but most kids these days have never seen a spindle or a loom in action, let alone know how to spin or weave. Most of the looms available in craft stores are the rainbow kind, but if you want to give your child a basic idea of how to weave thread into cloth, all you need is some yarn and a paper plate. Here's a fun weaving craft that will keep kids of any age busy for hours:

Paper Plate Weaving

Materials:

Using a pencil and a ruler, draw 8 lines that cross through the center of a paper plate, dividing it into 16 equal "pie wedges." Label each line consecutively with numbers from 1 through 16. If you want a looser weave, you can divide the plate into a smaller number of wedges (draw 4 lines across the plate to make 8 wedges). Similarly, a tighter weave will require a greater number of wedges.

Use scissors to snip around the edge of the paper plate at the end of each line. Fasten the end of the yarn at line 1. Stretch the yarn across the top of the paper plate and fasten at line 9.

Wind the yarn around the back of the paper plate and fasten at line 10. Continue winding the yarn across the paper plate, fastening the yarn at each line in the following order: 2-3-11-12-4-5-13-14-6-7-16-15-8-9.

Note: Do not wind the yarn across the bottom of the paper plate, only across the top. The bottom of your paper plate should look like this:

You should now have a "yarn wheel," with 17 yarn spokes radiating outwards from the center of the circle ( line 9 has 2 yarn spokes).

The loom is ready, now it's time to weave!

Cut an 18-inch length of yarn. Tie one end to the center of the yarn wheel. Begin to thread the length of yarn through the yarn spokes, in an under-over-under-over pattern (begin by passing the yarn underneath line 1, over line 2, under line 3, etc....)

Because your yarn wheel has an odd number of spokes (17), your under-over-under-over pattern will reverse itself once you get back to line 1 (over line 1, under line 2, over line 3, etc....), producing a simple weave pattern.

When you get to the end of the yarn, simply cut another length and tie the new yarn to the old yarn. If you want to make a concentric ring pattern, use a different color of yarn! As your circle grows bigger, you'll need more yarn to weave your way from line 1 to line 17, so if you want to keep your concentric rings at an equal thickness, you'll need to cut a longer length of yarn each time you switch colors.

Another tip: to keep your circle nice and flat, avoid pulling the yarn too tightly.

Keep weaving all the way up to the edge of the plate. To finish it off, simply tie the end of the yarn to one of the yarn spokes and pull each of the yarn spokes away from the plate. If you want to make a smaller circle, tie the end of the yarn to one of the yarn spokes. One by one, pull each of the yarn spokes away from the plate, cut them in half, and tie the two ends together. If you want to make a flower instead of a circle, pull the two ends together more tightly, which ruffles the edges and gives it a petaled look!

These woven circles or flowers make adorable pot holders, door hangers, coasters, holiday tree ornaments, and dollhouse throw rugs!

If after doing this craft you decide to stick with Rainbow Looms after all, be sure to check out this Bedtime Math problem.
Images courtesy of Ana Picazo

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Here's your nightly math! Just 5 quick minutes of number fun for kids and parents at home. Read a cool fun fact, followed by math riddles at different levels so everyone can jump in. Your kids will love you for it.

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I'm a writer, maker, and educator who's on a mission to better the world through hands-on engineering projects. Check out my work: LanceMakes.com

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This environmental engineering science fair project will determine the power generated by a pinwheel at different orientations to a wind source.

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Back to Parachute Drop Activity Resources Page

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Team Building Activities That Support Maker Education, STEM, and STEAM

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Working as a productive and sensitive member of a team is looked upon by STEM-based companies as being a requirement to being an effective and contributing employee: As technology takes over more of the fact-based, rules-based, left-brain skills-knowledge-worker skills-employees who excel at human relationships are emerging as the new "it" men and women.

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· by ·

Recently the kids and I made popsicle stick catapults from Asia Citro's newest book, The Curious Kid's Science Book. The craft stick catapults were super fun and a great learning experience for both my preschooler and 2nd grader! And, after reading through The Curious Kid's Science Book, we've got many more science activities we can't wait to try!
Disclosure: I was sent a complimentary copy of this book to review. All thoughts and opinions are definitely my own. See my full disclosure policy here. This post contains affiliate links.
I knew after trying out all kinds of cool kids' activities from Asia Citro's first book, 150+ Screen-Free Activities for Kids, that her newest book centered around science was going to be an absolute hit!

The Curious Kid's Science Book is packed with over 100 quality science activities for children ages 4-8. Not only is every activity in the book an amazing learning experience, but what makes this science resource really stand out is how the science experiments actually promote inquiry and scientific thinking. And, I absolutely love how The Curious Kid's Science Book includes ways to extend the learning of each activity, as well as provides questions to promote even more critical thinking.

This is definitely a high-quaility, must-own STEM resource for educators and parents!

One of the first science activities my kids wanted to try from the book was making popsicle stick catapults. I was absolutely thrilled to see all the learning that took place with this science activity. Both Theo (age 4) and Lucy (age 7) were enthralled with the activity and came up with all kinds of theories and predictions when using the catapults!

Materials for Popsicle Stick Catapults

Directions for Making Popsicle Stick Catapults
*We painted our craft sticks ahead of time (with our favorite tempera paint), because the kids just love to paint! But, you can also buy craft sticks that are already colored or just use plain craft sticks.
1. Make a stack of popsicle sticks and rubber band them together on each end.

2. Take two additional popsicle sticks and stack them together. Rubberband them together on just one end.

3. Pull the two popsicle sticks slightly apart and place the larger stack of popsicle sticks in between them.

4. Rubber band the stack of popsicle sticks to just the upper popsicle stick.

5. Rubber band a spoon to the upper popsicle stick.

6. Place a pom pom onto the spoon.

7. Hold the catapult with one hand, and use the other hand to pull the spoon down. Release the spoon to launch your pom pom!

Using the Craft Stick Catapults

The kids started out by using the catapults over and over. They had a blast launching pom poms all over the backyard using their homemade catapults!

After a while they started coming up with new things to try. Lucy wondered what would happen if she moved the spoon further out from the catapult. Would the pom poms travel further?

Theo decided to try launching more than one pom pom at the same time to see what would happen. Would they all travel the same distance?

I loved watching how this science activity led to all kinds of theories and predictions- such an awesome, hands-on experiment that the kids just had a blast with! We can't wait to try all the others!

I'm definitely planning on giving copies of The Curious Kid's Science Book as gifts to the kids' teachers this year, as well as lots of my friends with young children- such a great resource for anyone that wants to encourage curiosity and a love of learning in their children!

The book is available world wide: You can buy copies of The Curious Kid's Science Book at any of the stores below:
The Curious Kid's Science Book on Amazon The Curious Kid's Science Book on Barnes & Noble The Curious Kid's Science Book on Book Depository
Asia is also offering science kits that correlate with the book! These would make a great gift for any child or teacher! You can find out more about the science kids here and purchase them here on Amazon.

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STEM Activity for Kids: Popsicle Stick Catapults - Buggy and Buddy

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Recently the kids and I made popsicle stick catapults from Asia Citro's newest book, The Curious Kid's Science Book. The craft stick catapults were super fun and a great learning experience for both my preschooler and 2nd grader! And, after reading through The Curious Kid's Science Book, we've got many more science activities we can't wait to try!

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ZOOM . activities . sci . Puff-mobile | PBS Kids

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Debbie, age 9 of Paramus, NJ wrote: It was great!!! It went fast and far with the sail above the wheels.Reagan, age 12 of Fort Wayne, IN wrote: I had a group of 3 for my puff mobile project. For 1 blow I got 1 yard. For 6 ft.

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This giant collection of LEGO challenge cards is a simple prep, fun way to sneak some STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) learning into the day. With cards that range from easy to difficult, little engineers will love tackling the designs. Grab your set below and add them to a classroom center, engineering activity, homeschool lesson, or free play. There are so many ways to use these cards!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links for LEGOS.

Getting Ready

To prep for the activity, I printed the cards (below) on cardstock to give them extra durability. Then I cut along the faint gray lines to separate them.

Note: If you'll be using the cards in a classroom, you may want to laminate the cards to make them even sturdier.

I grabbed our box of small LEGOS for this first round of play but DUPLOS would work just as well.

Playing with the Cards

Middle Brother is LEGO obsessed, so he couldn't wait to get his hands on the first challenge card. To add a little excitement, we mixed up the stack and he drew the top card: Fill the rectangle below without going over its edges.

It was pretty tricky to find the solution but, after lots of trial and error, Middle Brother found it.

He pushed the card off to the side and grabbed card #2: Build your favorite fruit and see if a friend can guess it.

I have to admit that I had a big advantage figuring out what his little hands were making since I make nearly every meal he eats. But after a few minutes he proudly showed me his red and green creation and was thrilled when I easily guessed it was an apple. "YES!" he exclaimed.

One card after the next, he tackled the challenge head on. He made patterns...

Built geometric shapes...

And so much more. He loved every second of it.

Grab Your Set

Ready to play along too?! Gain instant access to our subscriber freebie when you join our free email list! Just click the button below to sign up.

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LEGO Challenge Cards - The Stem Laboratory

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This giant collection of LEGO challenge cards is a simple prep, fun way to sneak some STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) learning into the day. With cards that range from easy to difficult, little engineers will love tackling the designs. Grab your set below and add them to a classroom center, engineering activity, homeschool lesson, or free play.

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STEAM Learning with Chibitronics

Educators are using paper circuits to seamlessly integrate art, STEM, social studies, and language arts.

Students can create interactive artwork, illuminate haikus and illustrate "I Am" poems, map the stars and the world around them, invent cardboard arcades and paper cities, and much more!

I love the light bulb moment for students or teachers in workshops, especially when they are or were like me - intimidated and then empowered. It makes me feel smart and powerful and accomplished and successful when I make the light light up. In fact, that is my FAVORITE part of every workshop - when people explain 'Oh! I did it!' I think doing this work is very empowering for girls and those not as confident about science.
- Molly, high school English teacher

Order Supplies

Professional Development

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STEAM Learning with Chibitronics Educators are using paper circuits to seamlessly integrate art, STEM, social studies, and language arts. Students can create interactive artwork, illuminate haikus...

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Greetings,

I recommend running these projects in this order:

Geometric shapes, pyramid catapult, slingshot rocket, slingshot car, rubber band helicopter, cork shooter, crash test car, tornado tower, hydraulic machine.

Good luck!

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Slingshot Straw Rockets - Engineering Projects for Kids

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Simple and inexpensive to build. The slingshot rocket may take a little practice to use, but the payoff is well worth it as you launch it over 50'!If you enjoy this...

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The slingshot car is an excellent introductory project to illustrate how potential energy is converted into kinetic energy, and the importance of low friction. Just be sure to watch your feet as cars go racing across the floor!

Be sure to check outMade for STEAM, an amazing collection of hands-on projects for kids!

Project Goal: Students build cars that are rapidly propelled across the floor at least 10 feet.
Design Variables

Axle width

Number of wheels

Key Concepts

Wheel Alignment means all the wheels all point in one direction

Energy transformation is when one kind of energy turns into a different form

Prep: Bend paperclips into hooks (1 per student)

Safety: Launch cars only horizontally across the floor. Designate a launching area and direction when students begin to test.

Step 1: Materials

Please message me to report broken links. All of these materials are used in my other Instructables for kids, so your purchases can be used across multiple projects.

8 Craft sticks
4 Wheels
2 Straws
1/8" dowels
1 Paperclip
Masking Tape
Hot glue with safety nozzle
Craft cubes (for extra modifications)
Plastic cups (for stackable crash targets)

Share

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Step 2: The Basic Frame

The frame can be just about any shape and size. I use a rectangular frame for my example because it has about the same proportions as a real car and it's easy to build.

Step 3: Adding Wheels

I like to use wheels that are at least as wide as one craft stick for stability.

You may need to give some hands-on help to students who are having trouble fitting a plastic wheel into a skewer. If it is being particularly stubborn, I will use my wood cutters to whittle the end of the skewer a little so that the wheel will fit easily.

Step 4: The Paperclip Hook

The hook is just like my Slingshot Rocket and Slingshot Dart Shooter. This little paperclip hook works very well for grabbing onto a rubberband, but also for releasing it at the right moment.

Children in grades 1-3 sometimes have difficulty bending the paperclips. You may want to bend these as part of your prep work.

The hook should be near the front of the car, though not necessarily in the exact position that's shown. If your students add some extensive modifications that interfere with the launching, you may need to relocate the hook.

Step 5: The Slingshot

These slingshots are easy to make and work well. Long rubber bands make launching easier, and it has a higher capacity for storing potential energy.

Step 6: Launching the Cars

1. Place the car on a smooth, flat surface with the hook pointing in the direction that the car will be traveling.

2. Hold the back of the car with one hands and the slingshot in the other.

3. Hold the slingshot firmly with your thumb pressed against the stick. The rubber band should hang down from the stick and your hand should be in a 'thumbs-down' position.

4. Drape the rubber band over the hook and begin pulling the car back until the band catches onto the hook.

5. Pull back as much as you'd like while keeping the rubber band parallel with the floor. Release the car while keeping the stick pointing straight down.

Step 7: Safety, Tips and Troubleshooting

CAUTION! This project can be dangerous. An inexperienced (or adventurous) user may fling the car into the air. Don't allow your students to fling the cars like this. Make sure that the rubber band stays parallel with the floor during the launch. It is natural for some students to whip the arm that is holding the slingshot upward at the moment of release. Correct them by making sure that they keep the slingshot pointing straight down during the launch. The energy should come from the rubber band, not from moving one's arm.

Don't allow your students to add anything to their cars that might cause unnecessary harm, such as spiked skewers.

Don't allow your students to fling the cars directly at each other.

Some students will want to crash their cars into things. Bring plastic cups and stack them into pyramids to make some dramatic and appealing targets.

Cars with a tall frame may interfere with the slingshot. You may need to adjust the placement of the hook in such cases.

Some students have a difficult time launching their cars. Try to break down the launching procedure into simple steps: 1. Hold slingshot in front of you with the rubber band pointing down. 2. Hook the rubber band onto the car and pull back a lot. 3. Let go while keeping the slingshot pointing down.

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Slingshot Cars: The slingshot car is an excellent introductory project to illustrate how potential energy is converted into kinetic energy, and the importance of low friction. Just be sure to watch your feet as cars go racing across the floor!Be sure to check out...

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Crafts for Kids

Want to make a DIY version of those adorable little Hexbug Nano bots? Now you can!

A Hexbug Nano is a collectible micro robot that uses vibration to "explore" its environment. It's made from new plastic and a tiny motor, and you can make one yourself out of upcycled materials!

Better yet: hand all these supplies over to your kiddo, because the DIY Hexbug Nano is a perfectly do-able kid build. Here's how.

DIY Hexbug Nano

You will need:

small vibrating or revolving motor with leads attached. You can crib a motor from any number of small appliances-electric toothbrush, for instance-but I really like these motors with the leads already attached , because it makes this simple project even simpler.

cell battery . It's small and light, and its positive and negative sides are nice and wide to help out your experimenting kid.

toothbrush head. Use your old toothbrush that I'm sure you should be replacing more often than you do, and cut off the handle.
glue dots. Rainbow loom rubber band.
I'm going to give you the step-by-step, but if you've got a kid who's around seven or older, or who likes to tinker, or who's studied even a teensy bit about electricity, I encourage you to simply hand off these supplies, tell the kid what the finished robot should do, and then step back and watch quietly. This robot offers a BIG reward for tiny makers!

1. Test your circuit. Make sure your robot will work by touching the wire from the red lead to the positive side of the battery while you touch the wire from the black lead to the negative side. The motor should turn.

If you don't want to just dump all the supplies in your kid's lap and ditch her, this is also a good place to start: tell her that if she touches the leads to the battery correctly she'll complete the circuit to make the motor run. Once she figures that out, tell her that she can use that complete circuit to power her DIY Hexbug Nano.

2. Attach the motor to the toothbrush. Stick it on with a glue dot.

3. Attach the battery to the toothbrush. More glue dots to the rescue!

4. Attach the leads to the battery. There are loads of ways to do this, but remember that you want to be able to easily detach and reattach at least one lead-that's how you're going to break the circuit and stop your crazy robot!

When I presented each of my own kiddos with this challenge, one kid chose to attach her battery with the bottom lead pinned between it and the toothbrush; she successfully relied on gravity to keep the top lead pressed to the battery during operation, and simply moved it aside to stop the Hexbug.

My younger kiddo came up with the solution to wrap a Rainbow Loom rubber band twice around the battery, then to slip each lead under the band-it's a very sturdy connection, but easily dismantled, and so clever that I added Rainbow Loom rubber bands to the supplies list in case your own kiddo wants to try it.

This DIY Hexbug Nano works best on a flat surface, like your floor or a tabletop. I suggest that you build a little maze for it to play in, because otherwise it mostly wants to zip underneath your refrigerator and play there.

Keep up with the latest in the world of green crafts by signing up for our free newsletter. CLICK HERE to sign up!

About the Author

Julie Finn I'm a writer, crafter, Zombie Preparedness Planner, and homeschooling momma of two kids who will hopefully someday transition into using their genius for good, not the evil machinations and mess-making in which they currently indulge. I'm interested in recycling and nature crafts, food security, STEM education, and the DIY lifestyle, however it's manifested--making myself some underwear out of T-shirts? Done it. Teaching myself guitar? Doing it right now. Visit my blog Craft Knife for a peek at our very weird handmade homeschool life; my etsy shop Pumpkin+Bear for a truly odd number of rainbow-themed beeswax pretties; and my Google + for links to articles about poverty, educational politics, and this famous cat who lives in my neighborhood.

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Crafts for Kids Want to make a DIY version of those adorable little Hexbug Nano bots? Now you can! A Hexbug Nano is a collectible micro robot that uses vibration to "explore" its environment. It's made from new plastic and a tiny motor, and you can make one yourself out of upcycled materials!

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This is another engaging after school activity that we used in our Force and Motion science club. It would be easy to add to your existing curriculum; especially if you teach the FOSS Variables kit.

In the Variables Kit, there are four problems for students to explore and test variable - pendulums, penny boats, planes and flippers. Flippers are really catapults that you can change the height of the object's trajectory path by changing the length of the flipper.

Another great FREE game from FOSS is the Blasto Game. This goes right along with the idea of changing variables to further your flight. It is an interactive computer game that the kids will LOVE...

To follow up this activity, we had the students design and create their own catapults - using simple materials:

a paper bowl

1 or 2 plastic spoons

1 or 2 rubber bands

12- 16 inches of tape

3-4 straws

3-4 Popsicle sticks

mini marshmallows (the ammunition)

And off course...we had to write about our designs with a diagram to show how they worked!

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This is another engaging after school activity that we used in our Force and Motion science club. It would be easy to add to your existing curriculum; especially if you teach the FOSS Variables kit. In the Variables Kit, there are four problems for students to explore and test variable - pendulums, penny boats, planes and flippers.

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This lightning-fast project provides the thrill of propeller-driven thrust, but without the challenges of aerodynamic flight!

Be sure to check out Made for STEAM, an amazing collection of hands-on projects for kids!
Materials

How It Works
It's simple. Winding the propeller will store energy in a rubberband by twisting it. When released, the propeller rapidly unwinds and generates thrust, which pulls the craft along a low-friction zipline. However, the torque from the unwinding propeller can cause the entire racer to flip upside down. To counter this force, another force is introduced: drag. By attaching a paper cutout, drag perpendicular to the side of the racer is created, which helps prevent inversions.

Safety and Tips

CAUTION! Pulling downward on the racer while it is hooked onto the zipline may cause it to be flung off the line upon being released. This can be dangerous when the propeller is rapidly unwinding. Be sure to directly supervise each student at least once as they attempt to launch their racer for the first time. Be sure to correct anyone who pulls on the zipline before a launch.

Make sure the zipline is either highly visible or above everyone's head.

Young students (grades 1-3) may need extra guidance while bending the paperclips, attaching the rubberbands, and properly launching the racer.

Encourage your students to experiment, especially if they're in grades 4 and up - I'm always amazed by their innovations and improvements.

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This lightning-fast project provides the thrill of propeller-driven thrust, but without the challenges of aerodynamic flight! Be sure to check out Made for STEAM , an amazing collection of hands-on projects for kids! Materials How It Works It's simple. Winding the propeller will store energy in a rubberband by twisting it.

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Introduction: Rubber Band Helicopters - Engineering Project for Kids

The rubber band-powered helicopter is easy to construct, and with a little practice it can be flown 20+ feet into the air!

You can find the lesson plan, 1-page project sheet, and more project ideas at STEM-Inventions.com

How It Works:
1. Energy is stored in the sport rubber by winding the propeller.
2. When flown, the rubber band rapidly releases its energy by unwinding, which turns both the propeller blade and the paper cutout.
3. The paper cutout pushes against the surrounding air, which creates horizontal air resistance, or drag. This makes it harder for the cutout to spin. Because the cutout does not spin as easily, more energy from the rubber band is released into the propeller, which is much easier to turn. In this way, the paper acts like the rear rotor of a real helicopter
4. As the propeller spins rapidly, it begins to create lift by pushing air downward. With enough energy, the helicopter will fly in whatever direction it is pointing.

1 Person Made This Project!

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Step 1: Materials

Please message me to report broken links. All of these materials are used in my other Instructables for kids, so your purchases can be used across multiple projects.
You can find an entire kit of materials here: Rubber Band Helicopter Kit
Or purchase tools and materials individually:
Plastic propellers Craft sticks
Paperclips
Rubber bands
Card stock
Masking tape
Scissors
(smaller pack)

Step 2: Propeller

The propellers from Kelvin.com should fit snugly onto a craft stick

Step 3: Paperclip

Bending and attaching the paperclip is usually the most challenging step for young kids in grades 1-3. I usually hold the end of the paperclip (on the right side of the photo) between my thumb and forefinger. Then I show how the paperclip bends inside itself. The students need to pull that inside bend apart from the rest of the clip.

Attaching the paperclip can also be tricky. It it's not properly attached, it can be ripped off from too much tension. I try to make it simple for my students: hold the paperclip flat against the craft stick with the tip of the thumb, then tightly wrap a piece of masking tape around it.

It helps if the two ends of the paperclip are separated by the craft stick as shown in the photos, but it's not necessary.

Step 4: Paper Cutout

The paper cutout is crucial; it's what make the copter work. If it's too small, then it won't create enough lateral drag, and too much of the energy in the rubberband will be diverted to the craft stick. If the cutout is huge, it'll simply be too heavy.

I find that cutouts that are about 1.5" by 7" made from cardstock work really well. You can add flavor to this project by create templates for the students to trace, like a helicopter silhouette. For Halloween one year, I made a bat wing template and renamed the project 'Baticopters'

Attach the cutout on the opposite side of the exposed paperclip - this will help ensure that the rubberband won't rub against it.

Step 5: Attach Rubberbands

There are a few ways to attach the rubberbands, but I think the easiest is to put your fingers inside the rubberband and stretch it. The taught rubberband should easily slip into the propeller hook and paperclip.

I find that two rubberbands is the ideal number, but you can experiment.

Step 6: How to Fly

For some students, flying the helicopter is more challenging than building it. First of all, the helicopter must be wound up enough. The number of turns will be different depending upon what brand of rubberband you use. I twist the rubberband until it because completely coiled, and I keep going. You'll notice that the rubberband begins to form a second set of twists that are bulkier - it looks like tight bundles of knotted rubberband. If you fill up the whole length of the rubberband with double-twisted rubberband, then it probably has enough energy.

To fly, hold the top of the propeller and the bottom of the craft stick near the paperclip. For a stable and high-reaching flight, you must let go of the top first and then the bottom within half of a second of each other. This can be difficult for young students to coordinate, so I tell hem to verbally say "tick tock." As they say the words "tick tock," they should respectively let go of the top and bottom of the helicopter.

You can also fly the helicopter sideways following the same procedure.

Step 7: Advanced Ideas

Click on the images for specific design notes.

Step 8: Safety, Tips and Troubleshooting

Students should pay close attention to their helicopter while winding it. If they're winding it absentmindedly, sometimes their hand will slip away from the propeller, allowing it to spin prematurely. They will naturally move their hand closer to the propeller to continue winding, and the spinning propeller may cut their hand.

Spinning propellers can get caught in long hair.

The number one reason helicopters fail to fly is due to simply not winding the rubberband enough.

The second biggest reason is caused by letting go of the whole helicopter at once. Remind them to say "top-bottom" as they let go. It really helps.

Cutouts which span less than 3" typically do not perform well.

With a little practice, students can throw the helicopter as it is being released for additional height

Stay far away from buildings, trees and fences!

I am always trying to improve my projects, so please let me know what you think. Thanks!

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Rubber Band Helicopters - Engineering Project for Kids

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Rubber Band Helicopters - Engineering Project for Kids: The rubber band-powered helicopter is easy to construct, and with a little practice it can be flown 20+ feet into the air!You can find the lesson plan, 1-page project sheet, and more project ideas at STEM-Inventions.com How It Works: 1. Energy is ...

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POSTED BY
Carolyn Erickson

I remembered learning how to make a rubber-band powered boat out of a Styrofoam plate when I was young, and just knew it would make for some thrifty summer fun. This project was a hit at my house. Kids making their own toys - what's not to love? It's frugal and it keeps the kids busy during the summer.

The supplies are simple. You'll need a rubber band, scissors, marker, straight edge and some type of material that will float and can be cut with scissors. We didn't have any foam plates on hand, so we used a piece of cardboard that we covered with duct tape to make it more water-resistant.

The exact measurements are not really important here. Since you'll be using "found" (and free) materials, adapt the proportions as needed.

Step seven: Now that your propeller is wound, just place the boat in a bathtub or backyard pool and let it go!
If you liked this article, you may also enjoy: Fun snow activities for kids Keep the kids cool with DIY ice pops
See the video tutorial: rubber band boat

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Kids' crafts: Make a rubber-band powered boat - Living On The Cheap

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POSTED BY Carolyn Erickson I remembered learning how to make a rubber-band powered boat out of a Styrofoam plate when I was young, and just knew it would make for some thrifty summer fun. This project was a hit at my house. Kids making their own toys - what's not to love?

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Make 4-wheeled, air-powered cars that jet across the floor. Race 'em. Use 'em to play games! For step-by-step instructions visit the Design Squad website. ...

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I am joining my friends from Kid Blogger Network in a round up of topics interesting for parents and caregivers looking for fun activities to do with their kids. Since my 7 year old is very convinced that she will become an engineer, specifically, a mechanical engineer, I want to share 12 amazing engineering projects for kids from the blogosphere including, of course, ideas from this blog.

Disclosure: I am an Amazon associate, and this post contains Amazon affiliate links. For full disclosure, please click here, and thank you for supporting my blog!

1. Build a toy parachute

You can treat this project as an engineering challenge or follow an excellent toy parachute tutorial from Zakka Life. And check out this terrific round up of crafts that fly from The Pleasantest Thing.

2. Be a Junk Modeler!

Cardboard is a cheap and easily available material for young engineers. Build a cardboard city from Lemon Lime Adventures or visit my blog buddy Mama Smiles: Joyful Parenting who guest posted on In the Playroom about 10 wondrous things one can do with cardboard boxes.

3. Make Your Own Geoboard

I like this "industrial strength" geoboard from Crayon Box Chronicles because my 7 year old can practice screwing bolts and then play with her new board. Definitely doing one this summer!

4. Build a Catapult

Everyone loves flinging objects across some distance, and there are several ways to build catapults including an open ended "engineering challenge" project. I like this simple catapult from Kids Activities Blog , and this post also contains links to more advanced catapult version.

5. Design a Boat that Floats

Designing the boat that floats was the first engineering challenge for my 7 year old and her friend, and it was fun to see how they approached this task. Clearly, my daughter still needs to learn a lot before becoming an engineer.

6. Paper Airplanes ++

Testing different designs of airplanes is fun by itself, but Frugal Fun 4 Boys took it to the next level with a DIY paper airplane launcher.

7. Build a Balloon-Powered Car...

Future engineers need to understand forces of nature. Science Sparks has a brilliant post about forces and a great project to go with it - a balloon powered Lego car.

8. ... Build a Propeller-Powered Car...

I pinned this propeller-powered car from Instructables as a potential summer project, but my daughter did something very similar this week in Camp Galileo (sponsored link), except her car their was driven by a sail.

9. ... Or Build an Egg Racer Car

This was another engineering challenge that we had around Easter - first we made egg drivers and then each of us designed a race car for our drivers.. Of course, Papa's car won!

10. Build a Robot

Robots hold endless fascination for future engineers. I am intrigued by this bristle bot from Evil Mad Scientist. I also highly recommend to check out this Really Rocking Robot Roundup from Brain Power Boy.

11. Design a Marble Run

We have a marble run set, and Smarty enjoys trying out different configurations, but I still have a self-made marble run on the list of things to do. I love this simple DIY marble run from toilet paper rolls from TinkerLab, but Buggy and Buddy has a great round up of homemade marble run ideas to choose from.

12. Cool Off With Ice Architecture

Last, but not least Almost Unschoolers is a treasure trove of great ideas for older kids. She has several great ice architecture ideas including this Ice Cube Roman Arch.

Our Favorite Gifts for Future Engineers

Your Turn

What kind of engineering projects did you do with your kids?

More Engineering Ideas for Kids?

Follow my Pinterest board For Future Engineers.

Never Miss a Post

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12 Amazing Engineering Projects for Kids

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I am joining my friends from Kid Blogger Network in a round up of topics interesting for parents and caregivers looking for fun activities to do with their kids. Since my 7 year old is very convinced that she will become an engineer, specifically, a mechanical engineer, I want to share 12 amazing engineering projects for kids from the blogosphere including, of course, ideas from this blog.

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A few days ago I was putting together some containers of STEM materials for a class challenge and heard a student say this:

"I see straws in those bins. We use a lot of straws!"

Yes, we do! In fact, we use so many straws for challenges that I asked for straws to be added to our school supply list this year! So now I have one entire cabinet filled with straws. Just for fun, we counted the boxes one day and there were 40. FORTY. That is 4000 straws, just in boxes. There are also smaller boxes and bags, and more bags, and even more boxes.

Well, I asked for them! Right?

Let me show a little we have done with straws!

This is going to be a quick look at some of our challenges. If possible I have linked these back to blog posts of the past that would give you more details.

Amazing Mazes!

Above is a Quick Challenge called Straw Mazes. The walls of the maze were built of straws. A little bit of tape and that's about it! { Blog Post}

Yes, tennis ball towers!

Above is another Challenge called Tennis Ball Towers. This one has some unusual materials and a surprising constraint- kids must use all the materials. They get so creative!{ Blog Post}

Bridges and Boats

Above is a bridge challenge. This is one of the first STEM challenges I invented and I promise it was a throw- together- some- junk- and- see- what -they- build kind of challenge! We ended up calling these Straw Bridges (with Toothpicks)!{ Blog Post}

Bubbles and Bubble Wands

Above is M aking Bubbles! There is actually more to it than that. With a bunch of wacky supplies, kids make bubble wands! They LOVE it!

Platforms and Parachutes

Above is a Straw Platform! This was a little challenging since it had to hold weight!

Above kids are making a container to hold an egg. It was then dropped with a parachute! So, of course, we called this one Egg Parachutes!

Towers, Rescue Devices, Hoop Flyers, and Geodesic Domes

Above is a Straw Tower! The trick with this one was that the kids only received 12 straws! Ha!

Above is one of my all-time favorites! Kids had to build a rescue device and it had to wind up! Awesome and clever solutions were part of this one! { Blog Pos t}

Above is one of our most recent challenges! We made hoop flyers and experimented with changing variables. It was spectacular! { Blog Post}

Above is another recent challenge building Bucket Towers! We loved this one, too! The bucket had to be suspended and hold weight! { Blog Post}

Finally, you have another recent challenge about building Geodesic Domes! This was really, really fun! Check back next week because it may be my next Wednesday post!

"Why do we use so many straws?"

Because, my friends, they do not cost very much! I have FIFTEEN classes of STEM each week. I cannot spend a lot of money.

Advice: Ask parents to send in straws. And another little giblet of knowledge for you is this: The best straw you can get is from the Dollar Tree!

So what are you waiting for? Get some straws!

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A few days ago I was putting together some containers of STEM materials for a class challenge and heard a student say this: "I see straws in those bins. We use a lot of straws!" Yes, we do! In fact, we use so many straws for challenges that I asked for straws to be added to our school supply list this year!

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Of all the many marble runs we've built over the years, this is our new favorite! Simple materials and sturdy construction make it a WIN for a wide variety of ages. This would be great for a classroom STEM challenge.

It all started the other day when we needed a break from homeschooling. It has been too hot to get outside, and we were all going a little crazy! Owen and I decided to make a marble maze in a shoe box lid. I got out a shoe box lid, craft sticks, and a low temp hot glue gun. I wasn't sure if the craft sticks would be stable at all when glued on their sides, but it worked surprisingly well.

Owen (age 5) really enjoyed doing the gluing and building with only a little help from me. It may seem like a poor idea to give a kindergartner a glue gun, but a low temp gun can be just fine with proper supervision! Owen would not have been able to do this project by himself with craft glue as the dry time is just too long for craft sticks standing on their sides.

Owen enjoyed tilting the box lid and rolling his marble through his completed course!

Owen didn't want to build his marble track with more than one possible path for the marble, so Aidan decided that he would make a more complicated marble maze.

He even planned out his design on paper ahead of time! Craft sticks are pretty easy to cut with scissors to get the size pieces you want.

Building a marble maze is such a constructive way to spend an afternoon, plus it's great for hand-eye coordination. We also discovered that the marbles make a really cool sound when they hit the craft sticks. The sound inspired us to make another marble project...

For this one, I used the bottom of a shoe box to create a back-and-forth marble run.

I cut a hole in the top of the box to drop the marble into:

Kids of all ages will enjoy this one! It's so relaxing and the sound is just so cool.

After seeing this marble run, Aidan suggested building something like the Plink-O game on "The Price is Right." Aidan has never watched that show, but he saw something like that last year at the state fair. My husband thought that was a great idea and suggested making the craft sticks go the other direction.

This is what we came up with:

For this marble run I used an Amazon box. Aidan thought it should be more shallow than it was, so we cut it down with a utility knife and covered the edges with duct tape. I made three holes in the top of this one so that the boys can drop marbles in at different places. This game is fun because the marbles take a different path each time!

We were planning to make sections at the bottom (with more craft sticks) for the marbles to land in. Aidan wanted to put different point values in each section. I just realized that we never got to that step! Guess we'll have to add those!

Here's a video of our final marble run in action:

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Of all the many marble runs we've built over the years, this is our new favorite! Simple materials and sturdy construction make it a WIN for a wide variety of ages. This would be great for a classroom STEM challenge. It all started the other day when we needed a break from homeschooling.

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Print out our free rocket printable and have fun making some straw rockets! The kids loved designing their own rockets and then launching them using straws- such a great way for kids to explore science!
This post contains affiliate links.
This post was originally published on June 14, 2015 and has since been updated.
Here's an easy way to make straw rockets using just a few materials. This project makes a great addition to a unit on physics, space, the night sky, or things that fly and is also just fun to do on a rainy day!

A reader, Lisa, suggested a great children's book to go with this activity: The Darkest Dark by Chris Hadfield. Be sure to check it out!

The kids and I designed our own rockets and launched them using straws! This activity was definitely a hit with both Lucy (age 7) and Theo (age 3 1/2).

The kids loved seeing how far they could get their straw rockets to go and had fun trying them out at all different angles.

This activity makes a great science exploration and is perfect for the classroom. Kids can compare how different angles of the straw affect the distance the rocket travels or how adding fins or folding the rocket in different ways can affect its flight.

See the straw rockets in action!

Materials for Making Straw Rockets

Directions for Making Straw Rockets

1. Print out the free rocket template. Color the rockets and cut them out.

2. Cut the bottom off a plastic pipette and attach it to the back of a rocket using tape or glue dots. (We love having a stash of plastic pipettes at home. They're so fun to use with painting and often come in handy for various science activities- like with our color arrays. And they're super inexpensive!)

If you don't have any plastic pipettes handy, you can use a straw instead. (Just make sure this straw is wider than the other straw you'll be using for launching.) Cut the straw to fit the length of the rocket and tape one end shut so it's completely sealed. Attach it to your rocket with glue dots or tape.

3. Slip a straw into your pipette, and you're ready to launch!

4. Give your straw a big puff of air, and watch it take off!

Extending the Straw Rockets Science Activity

How does the angle you launch your rocket affect the distance it travels? Try out different angles and record the results.

Can you design your own rockets to attach to the pipette or straw? Which designs work better?

Try adding another fin to your rocket with tape. How does it affect the flight of your rocket?

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STEM for Kids: Straw Rockets (with Free Rocket Template) - Buggy and Buddy

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Print out our free rocket printable and have fun making some straw rockets! The kids loved designing their own rockets and then launching them using straws- such a great way for kids to explore science! This post contains affiliate links. This post was originally published on June 14, 2015 and has since been updated.

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Five engineering challenges for kids - with wooden clothespins, binder clips, and craft sticks! It's a simple STEM activity that kids of all ages will love.
Move over, expensive building sets! These simple materials were a huge hit with my boys. The first time we got them out, Owen (almost 7) spent well over an hour busily creating all kinds of designs. And that's saying something, because out of all of our kids he has the shortest attention span by far.

Kids will have a blast just exploring with these materials, and it's a great activity for hand-eye coordination. After they have had a chance to experiment with building, expand the activity with these fun engineering challenges!
This post contains Amazon affiliate links. Materials Used:
We used a train table board as a building surface.
Challenge #1: Build a structure that can support the most possible weight.
For this one, you could either challenge kids to build a true bridge, or just a structure that supports weight.

Two clothespins with a craft stick between them make great supports for a structure.

We couldn't believe how much weight this could hold! We didn't keep going to find the capacity on this one, but Gresham built another one that held many, many chapter books (about 25!) before collapsing!

Then we tried building bridges. Gresham came up with this design.

Then he tested the strength of his design with books.

It held 8 books and then collapsed, which was not too bad!

Then we tried a bridge with triangles in the design (since I knew that triangles are a stronger shape).

As expected, this one held a lot more weight. It collapsed after 13 books.
Challenge #2: Build the tallest structure.
Colored craft sticks make this whole activity a work of art as well as design!

This was Owen's tallest structure that he built completely himself (he's almost 7).

And Aidan's (age 12.5). As you can see, this is an activity that works well for a wide range of ages.
Challenge #3: Build the tallest structure with the fewest clothespins.
It doesn't seem like it would be possible, but we were able to build structures with only two clothespins at the bottom!
Challenge #4: What can you build with triangles?
This one was my favorite. Triangles lend themselves to really neat designs.

Owen started this one, and I made it into a hexagon. I never would have thought to balance the triangles on the binder clips the way he did, but it worked very well!

Here is Aidan's triangle design.
Challenge #5: Build a domino chain.
Gresham discovered that he could make "dominoes" out of craft sticks and clothespins!
Then we came up with several designs that didn't really fit any particular challenge. The kids just had a great time exploring!
Who knew clothespins could be so much fun?
Order Supplies on Amazon:
I am storing our "building set" in a plastic shoebox. We have about 36 binder clips, 150 craft sticks, and about 50 clothespins. That has been plenty for three kids building at one time. If you have a classroom of kids, you might want to get more.
Also, be sure to check out our Engineering Challenges with Craft Sticks, Cups, and Wooden Cubes!

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5 Engineering Challenges with Clothespins, Binder Clips, and Craft Sticks

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Five engineering challenges for kids - with wooden clothespins, binder clips, and craft sticks! It's a simple STEM activity that kids of all ages will love. Move over, expensive building sets! These simple materials were a huge hit with my boys.

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Guest post by Sarah Wiggins

You've probably noticed pictures of STEM engineering challenges floating around the teacher blog world recently, especially if you happen to be on Pinterest. There are so many pictures of plastic cup towers, coffee filter parachutes, and other cardboard contraptions. Perhaps you've plunged into the fun headfirst, or maybe you are still standing on the diving board wondering, "Will this activity really benefit my students?"

Short answer: YES! After looking at pictures of STEM projects, you might conclude that STEM engineering projects are simply arts and crafts on steroids. Really, they are so much more. Students who participate in STEM gain valuable skills that carry over into all parts of school.
8 Reasons Stem Challenges are Beneficial

1. New Challenges
Each engineering challenge gives students something new to solve and more than likely, it is a challenge they have never tried before.

2. Critical Thinking Skills
Students aren't just scanning a passage for an answer or solving math problems with a step-by-step process. They are actually coming up with a brand new solution. They can't just copy an answer or guess. They have to manipulate the materials and THINK!

3. Hands on
With STEM engineering projects, students are DOING science, not just reading about it or answering questions about it.

4. Lots of Right Answers
This is especially great for your struggling students who sometimes struggle to get the one right answer. This is also great for your perfectionist students who feel most comfortable with only one right answer. It gives them practice being uncomfortable and looking for other possibilities.

5. Builds Background Knowledge
STEM activities give your students background knowledge that you can refer back to later on. For instance, if students are creating a newspaper tower, they will naturally learn that they have to balance and distribute the weight. Later on, when you are reading the textbook chapter, you can say, "Hey, remember when we built the newspaper tower..." and you can build on their knowledge.

6. Safe Failure
STEM engineering challenges give students a safe place to experience failure and to learn from attempts that don't work. When their first prototype doesn't work, they just create a new one, and they learn that it is ok to mess up.

7. Teamwork
Students learn to compromise, share tasks, and work together in order to meet the challenge with the designated time and material constraints. They quickly learn that if they do not work together, they will not finish their challenge in time. Having a completed project is a great motivation!

8. Bang for your Buck I don't mean money, but time. Science time is precious and scarce. STEM engineering challenges can practice a whole lot of essential skills (measurement, creating a hypothesis, conducting an experiment, using science tools, thinking like a scientist, and more) in a short amount of time.

Free Basketball Tower STEM Challenge

Will building a tower with newspaper really benefit your students? Absolutely, positively, yes! And doing STEM regularly contributes to the growth mindset in your classroom, not just for STEM projects, but for other academic challenges as well. If you would like to try a STEM Challenge for yourself, here is a free challenge to try in honor of the upcoming college basketball mania of March: Free Basketball Tower STEM Challenge

You only need a few easy-to-find materials: newspaper, masking tape, and a basketball. The challenge is simple to grasp: build a tower out of newspaper and masking tape that will support a basketball. Don't be fooled, though, it is harder than it seems!

My goal is to make STEM as easy to implement as possible, so this pack includes a graphic organizer to guide students through the STEM engineering design process, notes explaining the science of it all, a rubric for grading, and an extension menu. You will love watching your students work together and think critically as they engineer their tower!

Sarah Wiggins blogs at More Than a Worksheet. She strives to help teachers incorporate creativity, critical thinking, and fun into the curriculum. She loves to make students think, and she believes that learning is more than a worksheet!

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STEM Engineering: Will building a tower with newspaper REALLY benefit my students?

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You've probably noticed pictures of STEM engineering challenges floating around the teacher blog world recently, especially if you happen to be on Pinterest. There are so many pictures of plastic cup towers, coffee filter parachutes, and other cardboard contraptions.

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Build a roller coaster for a ping pong ball out of straws, hot glue, and a cardboard box for a base. This STEM challenge for kids is awesome because the materials are so simple and inexpensive! The track is surprisingly sturdy, and kids will have a blast creating a path for their ball. I would recommend this project for ages 8+, but younger kids will enjoy building it with help. Our 2 and 4 year olds love playing with the track!

The track has sets of two straws that hold the ball as it rolls. Kids will need to experiment with each section before gluing it to make sure that it works.

Want to see it in action?

To build this straw roller coaster you will need:

A cardboard box or a piece of cardboard for the base

Straws - solid color ones are fun!

Scissors

A hot glue gun and glue sticks

A ping pong ball

A bowl to catch the ball at the bottom (optional)

Aidan and Gresham worked together to build the track. I got them started with the first section, and then they got the idea and built the rest from there! When we started, I honestly wasn't sure if this would even work, but it did and it's so cool!

Tip: Hold the straws in place for several seconds until the glue dries. It seemed to take longer for the hot glue to cool on the straws than it normally does, and we weren't sure why.

We chose to start building at the top and work down to the bottom. This worked well.

This is a great project for partners. It's helpful to have someone to help hold the straws in place.

Aidan cut small pieces of straw to help support the vertical straws that hold up the track.

This project can be as simple or complex as you want it to be! This was the boys' original track (with Jonathan testing it out!). After they played with it awhile, Aidan decided that he could add more ramps and turns.

Here is his final track design:

So cool! Here it is from another angle:
Have fun building! Need more STEM projects for kids? You might enjoy these:

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Engineering Project for Kids: Build a Straw Roller Coaster!

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Build a roller coaster for a ping pong ball out of straws, hot glue, and a cardboard box for a base. This STEM challenge for kids is awesome because the materials are so simple and inexpensive! The track is surprisingly sturdy, and kids will have a blast creating a path for their ball.

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Open-and-go lessons that inspire kids to love science.

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Mystery Science offers open-and-go lessons that inspire kids to love science. The hook, visuals, and activity have all been prepared for you. Less prep, more learning.

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What kid wouldn't want to play with candy! Our gumdrop bridge building STEM project is perfect using up those sweets that you might have hanging around the house. Or it simply makes a fun afternoon activity to keep everyone busy. Add a challenge! Have your kids try out their gumdrop bridge building skills.

Gumdrop Bridge Building STEM Activity
Simple STEM Play and Learning for Kids
Bridge building for kids is a perfect STEM {science, technology, engineering, and math} activity for kids! We have been trying out more and more simple STEM activities this season. They incorporate so many learning possibilities for math and science as well as creativity and fine motor skills. We have many fun STEM activities to check out that are great for young kids!

We have two more fun STEM activities with gumdrops. Try dissolving gumdrops and exploring heat change with gumdrops.

Gumdrop Bridge Building Set Up

Very simple set up! All you need it two materials! We chose gumdrops but the possibilities are endless {marshmallows, apple pieces, cheese, styrofoam, play dough, etc!} We added the iPad as our technology component as we watched a Magic School Bus episode about construction and bridge building. My son often needs to see a concept in order to understand the idea.
Supplies Needed:
Gumdrop Bridge Building Engineering Activity

We checked out our special bridge building Magic School Bus episode first. Then I paused it on the construction of the suspension bridge. we talked about the shapes we saw, how many gumdrops and toothpicks we would need, and how the bridge worked. Note: Before we began the bridge building activity, he chose to explore the gumdrops and toothpicks on his own and made some shapes {see square above left}. I am so pleased he chose this idea on his own. make sure you are flexible too with how the activity goes. Usually Liam does not care for a free form activity so I chose to model the show.

I suggested we help the lego men get across the bridge and we added popsicle sticks to all our bridge building activities. He also wanted a rescue mission for the lego man, so we worked on building bridges and ladders to rescue them. Although our activity had quite a bit of structure, the bridge building activities took on their own shapes! We were able to add in a bit of creativity too!

Once we had completed to rescue missions, I suggested we build whatever with the remaining gumdrops and toothpicks! He chose another bridge building activity but want to make a tall bridge. I think 4 levels is pretty good. I helped too and added stabilizers show ing him how they worked. He said he knew all about creating a stable base.

We even enjoyed a small taste test. Apparently the large ones aren't very tasty! This is a great holiday candy activity too! He was quite pleased with his gumdrop bridge building projects.See what you can build today!
Check out more great STEM ideas {click photos}... Join Us for STEM Saturday Gumdrop Blog Hop and Link Up
Building Structures with Candy Gumdrops from Lemon Lime Adventures

Gumdrop Bridge Building STEM Activity from Little Bins for Little Hands

Gingerbread & Gumdrops Grid Game from Stir the Wonder

3D vs 2D Shapes from Suzy Homeschooler

Gumdrop Graphs | Candy Math from The Science Kiddo
Amazon Affiliate Disclosure: I am an Amazon affiliate. I do receive a small compensation for any products purchased through this site. You are under no obligation to purchase and all activities are presented at no cost to you!

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Gumdrop Bridge Building STEM Engineering Activity

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What kid wouldn't want to play with candy! Our gumdrop bridge building STEM project is perfect using up those sweets that you might have hanging around the house. Or it simply makes a fun afternoon activity to keep everyone busy. Add a challenge! Have your kids try out their gumdrop bridge building skills.

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LEGO® is pretty cool and great for STEM based activities! What is STEM, read all about it!This time, my son wanted to try out a zip line like we had seen in a book. I knew there would be several interesting concepts he could explore through hands on play! Check out our collection of over 4 0 unique building ideas with LEGO®. So many great ways to incorporate LEGO® into a STEM environment!

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Simple LEGO Zip Line for Exploring Slopes, Tension and Gravity!

Science is everywhere! You don't need to purchase a fancy science kit. We love to explore STEM around the house and use common materials and supplies we already have on hand! MAKE SURE TO CHECK OUT OUR BEST SCIENCE AND STEM.

This is truly the perfect way for kids to look at ordinary items in new ways and invent something different with them. Science doesn't just come in a box, well maybe a LEGO® box! Make sure to check out our new LEGO® book, The Unofficial Guide to Learning with LEGO®!

MY LATEST VIDEOS

LEGO Zip Line Set Up
Supplies Needed {affiliate links included}: LEGO®! {our favorite starter kit} Parachute Cord or String
Getting started with a LEGO zip line. His idea was to build something for a LEGO® guy to sit in as he zipped down the line. This is a great opportunity to test out those master builder skills!

I helped him start by putting a mini figure on a base and suggested that he build up and around him! When he reached the top, I told him he needed to leave a space for our parachute cord to slide through. He wanted to use two curved pieces, but not necessary.

So now that you have your LEGO® man safely secured in his contraption, it's time to set up your LEGO zip line. We actually started by securing the parachute cord to door handle and then securing the other end on the railing of our 2nd floor balcony.

My son was very excited....until it crashed and broke.

Here's a good time to explore some scientific concepts like slopes, gravity, force, etc ! Make sure to ask questions! What happened to the LEGO® man?

The angle of the slope was too great, gravity pulled it down very fast, there was no breaking method or friction to slow him down, and the force that he hit the wall with broke him apart! Read more about our zip line fun below.

We love LEGO for learning and playing with at our house!

We cut the parachute cord shorter. Again I attached it to the door handle, but I showed him how we could be the other anchor for the zip line.

By keeping tension on the line and raining our arm up and down, we could control the slope of the zip line. He loved that he could use the lego zip line to make the LEGO® man travel back and forth.

If my son did not keep the cord tight however, the LEGO® man was stuck. Great hand eye coordination activity too!

What he learned through hands on play with the LEGO® zip line!

speed up the lego man by increasing the angle of the slope

slow down or stop the lego man by evening out the angle of the slope

return the lego man by decreasing the angle of the slope

gravity works to pull the LEGO man down the zip line but the angle of the slope can slow gravity

tension on the cord is needed to maintain travel

Build a quick and simple LEGO® zip line with just a couple of items! Next time maybe we will add a pulley system, but for now this playful, easy LEGO® zip line was perfect for afternoon play. The discoveries made will last a lifetime!

Click on photo for details!

GET THE BOOK! CLICK ON PHOTO FOR DETAILS AND ORDERING INFORMATION.

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Lego Zip Line Homemade Toy Zip Line for Kids

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LEGO® is pretty cool and great for STEM based activities! What is STEM, read all about it! This time, my son wanted to try out a zip line like we had seen in a book. I knew there would be several interesting concepts he could explore through hands on play!

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My name is Miss Amy, and I will be your STEM librarian today for a Three Little Pigs edition of Preschool Science!

I am a firm believer that STEM programming knows no age limits, and this philosophy led me to develop a preschool science series of programs at my library. Each Preschool Science Story Time involves a few main components: an age-appropriate story; a group retelling of the story with discussion of the science in the story; and hands-on activity. The most recent Preschool Science Story Time featured the well-known tale of the Three Little Pigs. The program is easily replicable; I hope you'll try it at your library!

First, we read our story. After a brief intro song to get everyone settled into story time mode, I pulled out Bernadette Watts's The Three Little Pigs. The illustrations in this new version are big and clear, allowing us to focus our attention on the materials in the story: straw, sticks, and bricks. Several children hadn't heard the story before, but by the end they were huffing and puffing like the biggest, baddest wolves you've ever seen.

Next, we retell the story together. I started our retelling by setting the scene of the three little pigs leaving home. For visuals, I used the awesome graphics I found at Graphics by Ruth. As the children chimed in to retell the Three Little Pigs, we paused to discuss the scientific principles in the story. Why was the wolf able to blow down a house made of straw? What makes a material strong? Our science buzzwords for the program were material and strength, and our retelling really focused in on those concepts.

We always have plenty of time to be hands-on with the science. I'm a big fan of stations in preschool science programming-since caregivers tend to stay in the program room with their children, each child usually has a grown-up guide to help them through different activities. For our Three Little Pigs programming, there were three stations set up around the room: one for building structures out of drinking straws; one for building structures out of unsharpened pencils; and one for building structures out of Duplos. Each child was encouraged to build a structure and then test it. Would it withstand being blown on by a person? What about being blown by a hair dryer? After testing each structure, children could make a mark on our simple wall chart that showed the relative strength of our building materials (grown-ups were key in making the chart work, although children were psyched to add to it). I walked around the room asking children how they thought their structures would withstand the air before they tested them. Thus, from start to finish, the hands-on activities hit all the major scientific method steps.

Everyone leaves with a book and/or sheet of at-home activities to reinforce our topic. All of our versions of the Three Little Pigs were checked out after the program, as were most of our non-fiction titles on materials and strength. I also made available a one-page (front and back) activity sheet that would continue to engage children in the concepts we had talked about. One activity called for having a grown-up take the child outside to draw a picture of his or her house, then talk about what it is made of. Another section suggested that caregivers replicate our stations at home, albeit using water instead of air as a test for strength. It is important to me to have these grab-and-go preschool science activity hand-outs accessible both in the program and at the check-out desk for a week afterward; since not every preschooler can attend the in-library program, I want to ensure families have resources to support at-home science if they are so inclined. That way a huge variety of children have access to STEM activities.

Do you offer STEM programming for preschoolers at your library? What do you do, and how do you do it?

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The Three Little Pigs & the Preschool Science - ALSC Blog

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My name is Miss Amy, and I will be your STEM librarian today for a Three Little Pigs edition of Preschool Science! I am a firm believer that STEM programming knows no age limits, and this philosophy led me to develop a preschool science series of programs at my library.

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For our third and final straw project (for now....) I'm completely geeking out with this straw geodesic dome & sphere. I have pretty much lived and breathed architecture my entire life (my father is an architect as well) so I have been familiar with geodesic domes practically since I learned to walk...okay maybe not quite that long but you get the picture.....so I'm really curious if everyone else out there is as fascinated by them as me. If you are please leave a comment below telling us your favorite example of a Geodesic Dome!
For those of you that are just tuning into domes scroll down to the "Looks Like" section of the post for a quick primer on domes and their master, the one and only Bucky Fuller, as architects and designers go he considered a legend.
We have a fabulous Geodesic Climbing Dome in our backyard that has provided a lot of fun for my kids over the past few years. My son and I tried to replicate it when building straw structures out of triangles, you can see our version here, but it wasn't a true geodesic dome. Building a true geodesic dome out of straws involves some math. But don't be scared by that! I promise it's only one simple equation that I you can do with a calculator! I also wanted to create a tutorial that makes it about as easy to make a geodesic dome out of straws as humanly possible. I think I got pretty close.
This post contains affiliate links to products I love and recommend to my readers, plus it keeps this little blog o'mine afloat! Thank you!
Materials

Straight Straws like these For a dome you will need 33 straws (18 of one color and 15 of a second color). For a full sphere you will need 60 Straws (30 of each color)

Chenille Stems AKA Pipe Cleaners

Scissors

Ruler

Instructions
To visualize this project ahead of time here's the basic plan:

1. Cut straws into two different lengths (Strut A & B)

2. Make 6 pentagon sections

3. Join them together in the shape of a dome

Yes, it's that easy.
Note: We will be cutting two sizes of straws. For ease of understanding it's best to cut the different sizes from different colors. That way it's easy to keep track of which are the longer struts and which are the shorter.
Basic Pentagon

Step One Select one color to be Strut A and one to be Strut B. Strut A will be longer than Strut B. For Strut A simply cut each straw in half. Make a total of 35 Strut A's.

Step Two Strut B should be smaller than Strut A by a factor of 0.885. To determine what length to cut Strut B measure Strut A then multiply that number by 0.885. Now you have the size of Strut B. Here's an example:

For an 8" long straw Strut A will be 4" and strut B will be 4" x 0.885 = 3.54". Round up to 3.5" here people, you don't have to be that accurate! Just get close to the ratio. Hint- Cut one strut B length and use it as a guide to cut the rest of the straws to that size.

Step Three Cut a total of 30 Strut Bs.

Step Four Make some pentagons! Strut A will be the outside of each pentagon and Strut B will be the middle sections. Take (1) Strut A and feed a pipe cleaner through it. Bend back the end to secure it in place around the straw. Join additional pipe cleaners on as necessary to make one continuous length of pipe cleaner by twisting the ends of pipe cleaners together tightly.

Step Five Thread 4 more straws onto the pipe cleaners for a total of 5 straws) then bend into the shape of a pentagon and secure the ends together.

Step Six Thread (2) Strut B's onto the long end of the pipe cleaner (adding more pipe cleaners as necessary) then thread the pipe cleaner into an adjacent straw and out the other side.

Step Seven Thread (2) more Strut B's through the pipe cleaner and an adjacent straw.

Step Eight Thread 1 final Strut B onto the pipe cleaner and then secure all Strut B's at the center of the pentagon. It helps to wrap the pipe cleaner around the joint of one pair of strut B's and then wrap it around the second pair. Thread the end of the pipe clearer back into one of the straw struts to conceal it.

Step Nine Make 5 more pentagons as described above. For a full sphere grab a glass of lemonade and make 11 more pentagons!

Make the Dome

Now that you have the basic shape that will form the dome all you need to do is connect them together. For a dome you will need 5 Strut B's to form the base. If you are making a full sphere you can eliminate the extra struts as the pentagons from one side will join the second side of the sphere.

Dome- For ease of reference I have shaded in the center pentagon in this visual tutorial. Trust me, it look more complicated than it is.

Step One Take one pentagon and thread a pipe cleaner through one side, secure at the end. This will be your center pentagon.

Step Two Thread the long end of the pipe cleaner through one Strut B of a second pentagon. Make sure the pointed sides of the shapes are facing OUT. Pull them together.

Step Three Repeat Steps one and two to connect a third, fourth, and fifth pentagon at the joints of the center pentagon. Pull tightly.

Step Four Take the (5) single Strut B's and feed them through the base of the row of pentagon at the bottom, alternating pentagons and struts. Pull tightly.

Sphere

Step One Take one pentagon and thread a pipe cleaner through one side, secure at the end. This will be your center pentagon.

Step Two Thread the long end of the pipe cleaner through one Strut B of a second pentagon. Make sure the pointed sides of the shapes are facing OUT. Pull them together.

Step Three Repeat Steps one and two to connect a third, fourth, and fifth pentagon at the joints of the center pentagon. Pull tightly.

Step Four Repeat Steps one through three to make a second half of a sphere.

Step Five Join the two side together! Thread a pipe cleaner through Strut B of one pentagon on one sphere. Secure at the end.

Step Six Instead of threading single Strut B's around the base as we did to make a dome, you will use the Strut B's of the second sphere as the connectors. Thread the pipe cleaner through one Strut B on the second sphere half. The second sphere half should be positioned facing the opposite direction of first half. Continue threading pipe cleaners through the bottom loop of both halves to form a complete sphere. Secure the starting and ending points together.

Why are geodesic dome so fascinating to designers?
You may think it looks complicated and but it's actually really easy to make both the dome and sphere once you see the pattern. In all fairness I built this dome and sphere. My kids are just a wee bit young to tackle this project, although my baby had fun trying to thread pipe cleaners through straws... I know it takes some time but breaking this project down to basic shapes made it very easy to build and understand. Here's my son with the dome so you can see how big it actually is.
The Math Behind the Dome
About Geodesic Domes
*Theoretically a 1-frequency dome is possible but it makes the shape of an icosahedron, which doesn't quite have a spherical shape. More on Domes
Geodesic domes are very efficient structures. Triangles are inherently stable shapes, so creating structures out of interlocking triangles makes very strong, yet incredibly lightweight structures that can be adapted on a small level, like our project here, to a massive level as in the Montreal Biosphere constructed for the 1967 World's Fair.

The first step in designing a geodesic dome is to determine the frequency of the dome, denoted by the letter V. At a minimum you need a frequency of 2*. In simplified terms it means you need 2 different strut or chord lengths. The more struts/chords you have the more rounded the final shape will be. The straw geodesic dome/sphere here is 2V. 3V and 4V domes are also very popular t make. If you want to build one or even a more complex dome check out this geodesic dome calculator.

If you can't get enough Geodesic domes here are a few more places you should check out:

Looks Like

Buckminster Fuller. Of.course. In the architecture world Bucky Fuller is a legend. He ranks up there with Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier. Are you familiar with him? Well you are now. He didn't invent the Geodesic Dome, it was actually invented by Walther Bauersfeld, but Bucky Fuller made it a household word. His love of geodesic domes has spread to generations of young architecture students in the past half-century. He saw the potential in geodesic triangulated structures to build strong yet lightweight super structures was awarded patents for a number of his designs. Bucky Fuller is also renowned in design circles for his forward thinking philosophies. He designed the Dymaxion House in the 1940s to be a mass produced type of housing. Imagine if houses were made like cars in factories. In my opinion this makes him the predecessor to the pre-fab home movement. He also developed theories about the world's limited amount of natural resources and was a environmental visionary. For these reasons and more he is a hero of mine and many, many other designers.
P.S. This would make a fantastic STEM project for older kids! If you enjoyed this engineering project for kids check out Tensile Bubbles and Paper Building Blocks for a more structural fun.
Conclusion
Don't miss out on more STEM projects here on Babble Dabble Do! Your child's inner Buckminster Fuller thanks you! Subscribe below, like us on FB, or follow along on Pinterest! Visit Babble Dabble Do's profile on Pinterest.
My father the architect was visiting us this week and helped us make our geodesic straw dome. His verdict on this project? "Incredible!" He was impressed at how we broke down the construction into a few simple repeatable steps using very basic materials. You can do it too! Maybe you want to make one to explore geometry with kids or engineering ideas or maybe just for decorative purposes, I mean who wouldn't want to hang a geodesic sphere from the ceiling? Ha! In any case I hope you are inspired to try making one and join the ranks of Bucky Fuller fans worldwide!

Now that you are pumped about geometry here are three amazing toys you might want to consider adding to your collection, they might just turn your kids into the next Bucky Fuller:

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Engineering for Kids: Straw Geodesic Dome & Sphere - Babble Dabble Do

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For our third and final straw project (for now....) I'm completely geeking out with this straw geodesic dome & sphere. I have pretty much lived and breathed architecture my entire life (my father is an architect as well) so I have been familiar with geodesic domes practically since I learned to walk...okay maybe not quite that long but you get the picture.....so I'm really curious if everyone else out there is as fascinated by them as me.

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Engineering for kids can be fun! And colorful! Building with toothpicks is a classic kid's engineering project, today we are scaling it up by building Skewer Structures. Using bamboo skewers in lieu of toothpicks means these structures get big FAST and are relatively rigid. If you've been itching to try an engineering project with kids keep it simple and try using these two household items you probably already have on hand.

I recently polled you guys over on FB to find out what projects you want to see more of here on Babble Dabble Do and was wholly impressed with the number of you that asked for more engineering for kids. That made my architectural loving heart skip a beat! I mean I geek out at this stuff but I loved hearing that other parents and educators are as excited about hands-on engineering projects for kids as I am. Certainly the STE(A)M movement is helping people see why learning about engineering principles is so important for kids. To me, hands-on building projects are the best way to learn how things work. You can do all the reading you want in a book but putting those ideas into practice really solidifies concepts.
This post contains affiliate links to products I love and recommend to my readers, plus it keeps this little blog o'mine afloat! Thank you!
Materials

A note on the clay: We used colorful non-hardening clay for this project but any clay should work. Here area couple other options to try if you have them on hand: Air Dry Clay, Sculpting Clay, play dough

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Instructions

Step One Break off chunks of clay and shape them into ½" to ¾' balls. You can do this either as you work or prior to starting.

Step Two Build! Use the clay balls at the joints between the skewers. I recommend starting with a triangular shape but you can be more free form.

Note: As the clay hardens and dries the structure will become more brittle. Either consider this an exercise to be completed and cleaned up OR if you want to keep it for a little while I recommend building it on a tray or board so that you can move it around easily.

That's it! The higher and more complex the structure the more you will have to adjust/press the joints together.

My kids and I each built a structure and then I combined them all into one mega- structure!

One thing I love about working with kids is seeing how they interpret the materials at hand. My 5-year-old daughter decided to roll out the clay into flat pieces and them wrap it around the skewers to add a decorative element. She was more included to make a colorful simple structure while my 7-year-old son was interested in building big and quick.

Looks Like

Gustave Eiffel. As structural engineers go he is probably the world's only household name, am I right? And that's because Gustave Eiffel designed one the world's most beloved and recognizable landmarks: the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It was built for the 1889 Paris World's Fair. While today we are used to modern looking structurally based towers, structures like it were completely unheard of in the late 1800's and many people were both dazzled and aghast by it. The Eiffel Tower set the precedent for sculptural, structural monuments and architecture that are so commonplace today.

Did you know that Eiffel was also responsible for engineering the structure within the Statue of Liberty? The breadth and diversity of his career is amazing, besides the two landmarks mentioned above he designed numerous bridges and a system of locks for the French designed (and never built) Panama Canal. One of the things I find most interesting about his career was his pursuit to standardize structural components, particularly with respect to bridges, kind of like a kit of parts. His contributions to engineering /architecture and world heritage rightfully make him one the world's most beloved engineers. Since our skewer structures were part engineering, part sculptural I found them much aligned with Gustave Eiffel and his exploitation of the beauty of structures.

Conclusion

You might be shocked to know that the best engineering class I took in architectural school involved NO MATH. Absolutely none. All we did was build structures out of craft sticks. That's it. For a whole quarter. And guess what? We built some pretty killer structures. And learned a ton about engineering. Why? Because we were testing out ideas with our hands, not relying on abstract formulas to learn how materials and designs behave under stress. For that reason alone I love projects like Skewer Structures. The tactile experience of building does wonders in teaching kids what types of structures work and what doesn't. They also turned out to be some pretty lovely sculptural pieces!

More

If you enjoy projects that teach engineering for kids check out these three "building" posts we've done:

There are also a number of cool books out there to get you going with more engineering ideas for kids and parents/educators. Here are some good places to start:

And don't miss out on more engineering for kids here on Babble Dabble Do! Your child's inner Gustav Eiffel thanks you! Subscribe below or like us on FB!
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Engineering for Kids: Skewer Structures - Babble Dabble Do

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Engineering for kids can be fun! And colorful! Building with toothpicks is a classic kid's engineering project, today we are scaling it up by building Skewer Structures. Using bamboo skewers in lieu of toothpicks means these structures get big FAST and are relatively rigid.

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There's been a lot of paper crafting at my house lately, thanks to my oldest son's obsession with Tom Angleberger's Origami Yoda book series. While we're at the kitchen table folding up the whole cast of Star Wars, I thought I'd work in a few other crafts - namely paper flyers.

My oldest boy loves a good DIY toy. (He gets that from me.)

As a kid I used to pick up sycamore seeds and throw them into the air to make them spin back down to the ground. These whirligigs remind me of those seeds.

Making them is simple. Don't let the instructions fool you.

Start with a long rectangular piece of paper about 2 inches by 6 inches; we used origami paper but plain 'ol office paper will do. Draw your lines (dotted and solid like the picture below).

You will cut on the solid lines and fold on the dotted lines.

Fold the paper in on the two long dotted lines to make a handle for what now looks like a small spade of paper. Fold the end of the handle up and adhere with a small piece of tape. Slide a small paper clip (as a weight) over the folded and taped end.

Next fold one side of the spade shovel down along the dotted line. Flip the paper over and do the same to the other side, so your whirligig's blades are pointing in opposite directions. You're done!

Hold the whirligig in the air and drop it. Watch it gracefully spin to the ground (and if you're like my son, drop it over the stair railing to see it spin for a greater distance).

This idea came from Babble Dabble Do. She's got a great photo tutorial so head over there if you're stumped.

This next craft is a must-do for paper airplane aficionados. It looks nothing like a plane, but boy oh boy, does it glide through the air with streamlined precision. Impressive is an understatement.

Cut two strips of cardstock paper, one 1 inch by 10 inches, and the other 1 inch by 5 inches. Tape them into two circle shapes.

Now take a plastic drinking straw and adhere each with more tape to the ends of the straw. You're done!

Now hold it by the middle of the straw, and propel your wrist forward releasing it into the air. It keeps going and going and going. This is one of the farthest flying "planes" we've ever made (and we've made A LOT of paper airplanes).

These crafts provide an excellent opportunity to explain aerodynamics, opposing thrust, and gravity. Kids can experiment by adjusting the size of the papers, the number of paper clips on the whirligig, the length of the straw, to observe and record any variance in the performance of the flyer.

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There's been a lot of paper crafting at my house lately, thanks to my oldest son's obsession with Tom Angleberger's Origami Yoda book series. While we're at the kitchen table folding up the whole cast of Star Wars, I thought I'd work in a few other crafts - namely paper flyers.

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We had SO much fun with out Ancient Greek Day that I am postponing my other scheduled posts to share these with you first! I absolutely loved them! The first activity we did was an Ancient Greek Architecture STEM Challenge!

We talked about how the ancient Greeks (and many other cultures still) used the post and lintel system because when you put a top (lintel) on several columns (posts), it can bear much more weight than any of the columns could individually...even if you added them up. We looked at pictures of the parthenon and other 2000+ year old temples built for the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece.

The Parthenon in Athens, Greece:

The STEM Challenge: I gave the kids a set of paper cups (each team had about 18) and two cookie sheets. I challenged them to build their own building using the post and lintel system. Make it as strong as possible! I invited them to test its strength by stacking books on top of it or (if they were really brave) to try standing on it! Of course, they immediately changed the challenge to building a 2-story tower that could hold their weight! They were super excited, and got to work right away!

Super Simple Supplies: paper cups and cookie sheets.

Results: They were all successful! It was wonderful! They needed some teamwork to balance everything as they climbed on top, but then each tower easily held their weight! One team even had three kids stand on it at the same time (total weight: well over 130 pounds)!! They also tested the strength of one cup by itself: one cup was easily crushed when the smallest kid in our group tried to stand on it (about 30 pounds)!

And the tallest one of all:

The kids happily spent about 30 minutes working on this and probably would have been happy spending another 30 minutes, but I made them put it away for two reasons: 1- I'd rather end an activity while everyone is enjoying it than after they start to be tired and frustrated, and 2- We still had a TON to do!

SCIENCE: Qualitative physics...unless you have older kids and want to make them calculate force and pressure distribution!

TECHNOLOGY: Web-based ap from The British Museum. You can also take pictures and make videos of the building and testing of your cup & cookie sheet towers!

ENGINEERING: Designing a tower, and making sure it stays up!

ART: Creating a "cool" looking building/temple/tower/whatever YOU want to call this challenge!

MATH: Qualitative concepts of gravity, force, and pressure...unless, again, you have older kids and want to make them calculate force and pressure distribution!

Older kids could also be challenged to make a building as tall as possible while still maintaining a minimum support weight (for example, How high can you make a tower that still supports 30 pounds?)!

Be sure to come back during the next few days to see all the Ancient Greece activities I have for you!!

Do you love science experiments and STEM activities? If science is your thing, you will want to check out the over 175 preschool science experiments and activities in my collection! This is an amazing resource organized by science type (biology, chemistry, physics, etc.)

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Ancient Greek Architecture STEM Challenge & Activities

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We had SO much fun with out Ancient Greek Day that I am postponing my other scheduled posts to share these with you first! I absolutely loved them! The first activity we did was an Ancient Greek Architecture STEM Challenge!

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Activity for ages 5 to 8.

Science Technology Engineering and Math {STEM} activities are fun ways to teach kids how things work. These straw bridges take just a few minutes to prep but will keep young engineers learning for hours. Who can build the strongest bridge?
This post contains Amazon affiliate links.
Building Bridges

To give the kids a strong introduction to bridge design, we started our activity by reading Carol Johmann's "Bridges" together as a class.

Then we talked about five popular types of bridges: arch, beam, suspension, cable-stay and truss. As we reviewed the characteristics of each one, I drew a simple anchor chart kids could refer to when they were designing their bridges later.

Then, I placed students into teams of three or four and gave each group a tray of supplies:

Their task was simple: build a bridge that was strong enough to hold a plastic cup filled with 100 pennies.

They could cut the straws to any length but their bridges had to sit at least one inch off the table.

Some teams succeeded and some failed but, either way, it was impressive to watch their problem solving and teamwork. They loved observing what worked for other groups and then incorporating it into their own designs.

Printable STEM Challenges

Fill your STEM center with our HUGE collection of STEM challenge packs! Build famous landmarks with LEGOS, use toothpicks and playdough to make 2D and 3D shapes and so much more!

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Activity for ages 5 to 8. Science Technology Engineering and Math {STEM} activities are fun ways to teach kids how things work. These straw bridges take just a few minutes to prep but will keep young engineers learning for hours. Who can build the strongest bridge? This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

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I decided to take on my own challenge of incorporating a STEM activity every day for a week. It turned out to be a huge success where both my students and I had a blast. Here were the various STEM tasks that they took on:
STEM activity 1: Newspaper towers!
For these towers, the only prep work is collecting old newspapers and rolling them into dowels. It is a bit tedious; however, if you get students to help you before or after school, it's not so bad! I gave mine classroom tickets as a thank you (read more about my ticket reward system in this post).

The only supplies students were given were: 7 newspaper dowels and two feet of painters tape. They were told that their "tower" needed to be a free standing structure (not taped to the table and not being braced by binders, etc.) and they were only allowed to use the supplies they were given. I did allow them to trade materials; they could trade in an unused dowel for five additional inches of tape or vise verse.

Each group had approximately 35 minutes to complete their tower. What they came up with was impressive:

A few groups even drew up plans for their designs (awesome!)

Once completed, we had about 10 minutes left in class for their creations to be put to the test. Their height was measured as was their strength. The tallest stood 2.5 meters tall (it was pretty weak). The strongest held 10 weights (approximately 5 lbs), very impressive!

These were the weights I used to test strength of the towers:

Here is one of them being tested for strength. It wasn't our top "winner", but it did well!

STEM activity 2: Army Man Launcher!

For this activity, The setup was pretty simple-just buying the materials and getting them laid out. Students were given: one cup, one army man, one spoon, six Popsicle sticks, two rubber bands two feet of tape (they got the tape separately so it didn't tangle) and two feet of string. They did not have to use all of the materials, but they did need to use at least 2.

This is how I prepped all of the materials on my lab cart (normally, I just put out the materials and have them help themselves since it's less prep for me, but I had more time so I decided to do it this way):

Students came up with some amazing ideas and we all had an absolute blast testing them out!

After they field-tested their inventions, I took them outside and they lined up and launched all at the same time. The farthest of the day when over 20 feet! Very impressive!

STEM activity 3: Popsicle Bridges!

For this activity, the set-up was simple. I separated the students desks by 1 foot, gave each group 25 Popsicle sticks and 3 feet of tape. Their goal was to make the strongest and most aesthetically pleasing bridge across the great desk divide! (So, I guess because of the artistic component of this bridge, this challenge could be classified as STEAM rather than STEM). Some students initially grumbled about having to air their bridge nice looking; however, when I explained that this is a real issue addressed when bridges are built because people don't want to look at an eye-sore, they want bridges to be beautiful!

Super easy setup for this one! Here are my lovely bundles of sticks:

The students really rose to the challenge and came up with some amazing bridge designs:

To test the strength of each bridge, I used the same half pound weights I tested the towers with. The winners of the day were able to hold between 5 and 7 pounds! Outstanding!

STEM activity 4: Designing Life Jackets for Babies!

I adapted this idea from one of the NSTA magazines. My adaptation uses: one rubber band, one plastic baby and one small peice of pipe insulation per students (This activity is cheap! The tiny babies came from a dollar store and were with the baby shower decorations and the pipe insulator was only $1.79).

The idea for this activity is that students need to design a life jacket for a baby. The head must stay above water, no matter how it enters the water. In order to keep them from getting too silly with a water activity that involves miniature plastic babies, we discussed the importance of something like this and the need for safety. They took their task seriously, but still had fun with it!

This was definitely much more challenging than they realized it would be. They spent the entire 40 minutes given to them trying to make it work. Many got very frustrated but then celebrated excessively when they finally figured it out. Overall, I would say they had fun with this one. This was the first individual task they had all week and they rose to the challenge.
STEM activity #5: The Unsinkable Ship!
The prep for this activity was fairly minimal. Each student got a 6×6 inch square of aluminum foil and about a 2×2 inch square of cardboard. Their goal: built/design a boat that could hold the most amount of mass before sinking.

Overall, I was impressed by the focus and the variety of boats I saw. I was afraid by giving them cardboard I would see a lot of flat-bottom boats; however, this was not the case! Many of the boat designs varied greatly and they seemed interested in how theirs would stack up against the others.

This week of STEM activities was astonishing to me. Not only did the students have fun, but they were so focused for every activity. Normally, I give lab sheets that they fill out as they go to keep them focused (typically these handouts include data tables, graphing, analysis questions and full written conclusions). For these activities I did not give handouts and they were just as focused without them. For some kind of follow-through, I did have them write about what they learned in their daily warm-up (what worked, what did not work, what they would do differently next time). I would highly suggest trying something like this in your classroom-allow them to play by giving a challenge and they will rise to the occasion, all while having fun learning!

-The Ardent Teacher

Want to try this in your classroom but don't have the time to create the handouts? You can now purchase the entire week's handouts as a bundle in my TpT store! Check it out!

If you enjoyed reading this post, check out this other week long STEM project I did about the Crashworthiness of cars!

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I decided to take on my own challenge of incorporating a STEM activity every day for a week. It turned out to be a huge success where both my students and I had a blast. Here were the various ...

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Hi! My name is Meredith, and I blog over at Momgineer, which focuses on ways to engage students in engineering, math and science. I am so excited to be here guest posting here at Minds in Bloom with Engineering on a Dime: 3 STEM Challenges You Can Do Today!

STEM challenges are a great way to explore engineering when you lack the time to devote to a rigorous engineering design challenge. These three challenges can be set up with very little prep time and with materials you either have on hand or can easily obtain.

STEM challenges naturally lend themselves to team-building, so I recommend exploring the challenges in small groups. Appropriate for a wide range of ages, they even work well with mixed-age groups, particularly if you have lower elementary students who can express their ideas but lack the fine motor or math skills to see their design ideas through to a finished embodiment.

I have created a graphic organizer, as well as an interactive foldable sheet, that you can use with each of these challenges. Recording and reviewing the process is just as important to the process as the building is! You can download the pages here or by clicking on the image below:

This challenge can be repeated many times with a variety of materials!

If you ever had the game Labyrinth as a child, then this one is sure to bring back some fun memories!

This might become your students' favorite challenge! If you are feeling brave, then you can complete this one right after the tower challenge and have your students try to knock their towers over with pompom projectiles.

General tips for doing STEM challenges:

I hope you have a lot of fun with these three STEM challenges!

Prior to my current gig as a homeschooling parent of two, I was a mechanical engineer. I love creating hands-on engineering challenges to help inspire the next generation of engineers. Feel free to stop on over at my blog, Momgineer, and say hello.

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Engineering on a Dime: 3 STEM Challenges You Can Do Today - Minds in Bloom

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Hi! My name is Meredith, and I blog over at Momgineer, which focuses on ways to engage students in engineering, math and science. I am so excited to be here guest posting here at Minds in Bloom with Engineering on a Dime: 3 STEM Challenges You Can Do Today!

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Who knew STEM and physics could be so much fun? We did! Making a Popsicle stick catapult design is an AWESOME STEM activity for kids of all ages! Exploring physics has never been so exciting for kids because everyone loves to launch stuff into the air. A catapult made out of popsicle sticks is the perfect kids activity for hands on learning.

Get your FREE Printable 15 Simple Science Experiments Cheat Sheet (at the bottom)!

These Popsicle stick catapults make a great STEM activity! We used technology to assist us in building our simple catapults. We used math to determine the supplies needed to build the catapults.

We used our engineering skills to actually build the popsicle stick catapults. We used science to test how far the catapults flung the items we chose.

MY LATEST VIDEOS

Which Popsicle stick catapult fired the farthest? Great start to finish STEM activity with simple physics science play at the end!

Explore physics and how catapults work with other design ideas including a LEGO catapult not shown below.

You can use jumbo marshmallows for this fun take on building a simple catapult.

You can also make a catapult out of pencils. Learn how to build a pencil catapult for great STEM with a handful of school supplies.

Another fun catapult design uses a spoon! Build a simple spoon catapult with great firing power!

POPSICLE STICK CATAPULT
(Amazon Affiliate Links)
10 Jumbo Popsicle Sticks

Firing Power (marshmallows, pompoms, pencil top erasers)

Plastic Spoon (optional)

Bottle Cap

Sticky Dots

DIRECTIONS:

STEP 1: Make predictions. Which object will fly the farthest? Why do you think one will fly farther than the other?

STEP 2: Hand out supplies to each individual or in small groups, and build a Popsicle stick catapult following the instructions below.
Read more about the science behind the catapult and simple ways to create a catapult science experiment below!
STEP 3: Test and measure how far each item goes when flung from the catapult. Record results.

POPSICLE STICK CATAPULT WITH RUBBER BANDS

This is a simple and quick Popsicle stick catapult using just two supplies. The best part is that you can also grab the supplies at the dollar store! Check out how we stock our dollar store engineering kit.

Adult supervision and assistance is highly recommended when using scissors.

You will want to use a pair of scissors to make two v notches on either side of two jumbo craft or Popsicle sticks (in the same place on both sticks). Use the photo below as a guide for where to make your notches.

Adults: This is a great step to prep ahead of time if you are making these popsicle stick catapults with a large group of kids.

Once you have made your notches in two of the sticks, set them aside!

Take the remaining 8 craft sticks and stack them one on top of the other. Wind a rubber band tightly around each end of the stack.

Go ahead and push on of the notched sticks through the stack under the top stick of the stack. Make sure to watch the video again to see this done.

At this point flip your partially made popsicle stick catapult over so that the stick you just pushed in is on the bottom of the stack.

Lay the second notched stick on top of the stack and secure the two popsicle sticks together with a rubber band as shown below. The V notches that you cut help to keep the rubber band in place.

Create more leverage with your catapult by pushing the stack of popsicle sticks towards the notched ends connected by the rubber band. Read about the science behind this below!

VARIATION: You can also make a popsicle stick catapult with a spoon which is especially great for holding objects like plastic Easter eggs or fake eyeballs. Check out two ways to place the spoon below!

TURN IT INTO A SCIENCE EXPERIMENT!

You can easily set up an experiment by testing different weighted items to see which ones fly farther. Adding a measuring tape encourages simple math concepts that my 2nd grader is just really starting to explore.

Or you can build 2-3 different catapults and see which one works better or if one works better with different objects.
Learn more about the scientific process and grab a free printable here.
Always start out asking a question to come up with a hypothesis. Which item will go farther? I think xyz will go farther. Why? Have fun setting up a catapult to test the theory! Can you design a different catapult using the same materials?

This is an awesome way to reinforce what the child is learning with a super fun activity. Additionally, you can encourage older kids to record the data from measuring all the launches.

Have your kids fire each material {such as a candy pumpkin, plastic spider or eyeball} 10 times and record the distance each time. What kinds of conclusions can they draw from the information gathered? Which item worked the best? Which item didn't work well at all?

You can also test out the number of popsicle sticks used in the stack to create the tension need to launch the catapult. How about 6 or 10! What are the differences when tested?

THE SCIENCE OF HOW TO MAKE A CATAPULT!

This is a great simple physics activity for kids of multiple ages. What is there to explore that has to do with physics? Let's start with energy including elastic potential energy. You can also learn about projectile motion.

Newton's 3 Laws of Motion: An object at rest stays at rest, until a force is applied, and an object will stay in motion until something creates an imbalance in the motion. Every action causes a reaction.

When you pull down the lever arm all that potential energy gets stored up! Release it and that potential energy gradually changes over to kinetic energy. Gravity also does its part as it pulls the egg back down to the ground.

If you want to delve deeper into Newton's Laws, check out the information here

You can talk about stored energy or potential elastic energy as you pull back on the Popsicle stick, bending it. When you release the stick all that potential energy is released into energy in motion producing the projectile motion.

A catapult is a simple machine that has been around for ages. Have your kids dig up a little history and research when the first catapults were invented and used! Hint; check out the 17th century!

SIMPLE POPSICLE STICK CATAPULT ACTIVITY - FREE PRINTABLE!

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Click on the photos below for more awesome STEM ideas to try.

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Popsicle Stick Catapult Design Ideas for Kids STEM Activities

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Who knew STEM and physics could be so much fun? We did! Making a Popsicle stick catapult design is an AWESOME STEM activity for kids of all ages! Exploring physics has never been so exciting for kids because everyone loves to launch stuff into the air.

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This lesson will involve your students in geometry and measurement as they work as civil engineers to design and build their own bridge.