Students will use everyday craft items to build a simple angle based bridge ( swing set design ) Once bridges are built they will test their strength by placing weighted objects most likely gram weights or something that is a uniform weight on the bridge until it fails.  Or they could test by levels of weight.  10grams, 20 grams etc. 

After reading various versions of The Three Little Pigs, students will plan and design houses that could protect the little pigs from the Big Bad Wolf (a hair dryer).

Note: This is an updated version of a previously created activity, now aligned to the new science standards.

Students will engineer a house that can withstand the force of a hurricane. Students will think about wind forces and the structures of houses to create their house using certain materials.

Students will work individually to design and build an instrument out of provided materials to make the loudest instrument they can. Students will need to work out what materials will cause vibrations in order to make sound. Students will be allowed to touch and plan before design as well as have time to fix and rebuild. The students will need at least an introduction to instruments and how their sound is created.

Students will be asked to build a bridge that spans a “river” (a sheet of paper), with common building materials. The bridge needs to span the river without touching the “water”. It only needs to join together in the middle- it does not need to hold any weight (unless you decide to make the challenge more difficult).

Students will be asked to build a functional pencil box- one that can hold at least 4 pencils, with a lid that closes- that will also hold all pencils in when turned upside down. Students will work in groups of 2-4 and will test their pencil box at the end of the activity.

In this lesson, students will build a wall for Humpty Dumpty (a plastic egg) to sit upon- with the goal of building the TALLEST, SAFEST wall possible in a limited amount of time. Students will not only need to collaborate well in their design but also utilize good teamwork as they build quickly due to the time constraint. Humpty must stay safe at the top of the wall when time is called.

Sam the worm was out sailing and his boat capsized! Students will be given a gummy worm (Sam), a gummy life saver (the life preserver), a cup, and paper clips. Their task is to get Sam into his life preserver and back into his boat prior to time expiring.- all while using just one paper clip for each group member and not letting Sam fall into the water (ie, they can’t drop Sam). Also, Sam’s boat (the cup) must be flipped back over so he can be safe inside once more.

In this lesson, students will build as tall of a tower as possible using just 20 strands of spaghetti and marshmallows. The tower must be able to stand freely without any assistance at the end of the creation phase.

Students will be tasked with building a structure that can hold as many books as possible, at least 4 inches off of the desk/table. After planning and creation, groups will be able to add as many books as possible until their structure finally collapses.

After reading Ricky the Rock That Couldn’t Roll, students will engineer a slope/hill and see if they can get a non-spherical rock to roll the length of it. Students will be given 4 (fake) dollars to buy materials according to their plan.

Students construct a yarn bridge between 2 cups that can hold as many bugs as possible. Students will record the number of each type of bug that successfully “stuck” and discuss the characteristics that helped them be successful (or caused them to fail/fall!).

Students will create an obstacle course for the Dash robot to demonstrate the following movements and position words: straight, in front of, behind, zigzag, between, on top of, round and round , under, above, back and forth, below, beside, fast and slow.

The teacher will read The Little Red Fort by Brenda Maier. Then ask the students to design and build a fort for Ruby using tagboard or cardboard shapes.

After reading various versions of The Three Little Pigs, students will plan and design houses that could protect the little pigs from the Big Bad Wolf (a hair dryer).

Students build a parachute that can travel quickly and safely to the ground.

After reading Little Red Riding Hood, students will engineer a basket that will hold 50 unifix cubes while walking 100 steps without breaking. 

After reading about polar bears and other arctic animals,  students will use Keva planks to build a den that the polar bear can stand up in.

Students construct a yarn bridge between 2 cups that can hold as many spiders as possible.

Students work in teams to build towers. Students add or remove blocks based on the Building Engineers (the teacher) directions to change the quantity of the blocks used and design of the towers built.