Bird Feeders From Recycled Materials

Early Elementary Engineering

April

Bird Feeders From Recycled Materials

April 22 is Earth Day. On this day, we celebrate all of the things that our Earth provides us with, clean air, land, and water. It is also a day to remember that it is our job to take care of our Earth so that everyone can enjoy it. In this engineering activity, you will be creating a bird feeder from recycled materials. By using recycled materials, we help keep trash out of our environment. Using these materials to create bird feeders also helps the birds by providing them with food. Watch the video for instructions and materials to create your own bird feeder with recycled materials. You can also click here for another idea!

March

Easter Egg Challenges

Easter is a very fun time where there is a lot of candy and a lot of plastic eggs around. But what do you do with all of those plastic eggs once Easter is over? You can create your own unique engineering designs. In this activity, you will create the tallest egg tower, an egg bridge, and other fun egg structures. Check out the link here for the information and challenges. Click on the video to hear the book "Easter Egg" by Jan Brett.

February

Toys of Long Ago

Have you ever thought about what toys from long ago looked like? What types of toys did children play with before there was television. In this engineering activity, you will make a Thaumatrope. A thaumatrope is a toy that creates a mini cartoon. Using simple supplies you can find around your house, you can create and make your own unique thaumatrope. Click on the video to see how to make a Valentine's Day thaumatrope. Click here for instructions and a printable.

January

Build a Snowman

Now that Winter is here, everyone is excited to see the snow! One of the most loved activities to do in the snow is to build a snowman! In this activity, you will design your own snowman using marshmallows and toothpicks! See how tall you can build your snowman without him falling over!



December

Gingerbread House

What better engineering activity to do in December than to build a gingerbread house! You can get the premade gingerbread house kits, but in this activity, you can use materials you probably already have around the house. For this gingerbread house, you will use any kind of pop tart you want to create the house structure. Then you can use canned icing and any kind of candy to create a magical gingerbread house! Check out the video for instructions on how to cut the pop tarts and assemble the gingerbread house!

November

Designing A Teepee

Did you know that the Indian tribes used materials that they found in their environment to build their homes? They were natural engineers using materials available to them to create something they needed! In this activity, you will use some supplies from your kitchen to design and construct your own teepee. Watch the short video on Native American homes. Then, click on the Teepee Design Challenge for activity instructions!

Teepee Design Challenge

October

Candy Structures

Did you know that you can use candy to build structures that are strong enough to hold a book? In this challenge, you can use gummy bears and toothpicks to create structures that will hold a heavy book. But why stop there? See how much weight you can hold with your candy structures! Click on a picture for instructions and a video on how to build your candy structures.

Source: This activity provided by Generation Genius.

September

Engineering With Cups

Engineers are people who solve problems. For this challenge, you only need plastic cups. See how tall you can build your tower of cups by using different ways to stack the cups on top of each other!