Building a Tower to Keep Bird Eggs Safe

3rd-5th grade- Engineering and design process to create a straw tower.

The Restraints: 20 straw, limited tape (about 3-4 ft), hold 2 ping-pong balls, and tower must be taller than a ruler. The sticky side of the tape cannot be touching the ping-pong balls.

Before starting this project we talked about why birds keep their eggs in a nest in a tree or somewhere high. We talked about predators and prey and how birds protect their eggs. For this challenge, students had to protect their ping pong ball eggs to get them off the ground so they would be safe from predators. Students worked in groups of four to complete the project. 

Ask: How can you keep your eggs safe and high off the ground?

Imagine: 5-10 minutes to brainstorm with their group how they will use the materials 

Plan: Draw out a quick sketch of their design they imagined.

Create: build the tower 

Test and Improve: while building students normally can see if their design is working or how they will improve as they rebuild or revise their original plan. 

**As a facilitator, you must decide if the students original plan does not work if they get to start over with new materials or have to reuse the already provided materials they started with. I found that many students who needed to change their design ran out of tape as they tried to change and improve their design. 

K-2 - Engineering and design process Lego Tower with bird nest 

Read aloud- Why do Birds Build Nest? by Jomike Tejido - Link

After the story we talk about why birds build a nest and how a nest can keep eggs safe. Then students build a Lego tower that is as tall or taller than a ruler that can hold a ping pong ball. 

Ask: How can you keep your egg safe off the ground and stay in your nest?

Create: build the tower

Improve: As they build they improve to make it sturdy and so the ping-pong ball doesn't roll off. 

Building a House to Withstand a Windstorm

Students are stranded on a desert island and their first night there was rough. Bugs kept attacking them and the wind kept them up all night! Today they need to build a house that can withstand a wind storm (blow-dryer on medium) for 10 seconds and have walls and a roof to keep the bugs out. There cannot be windows but there must be a door to get in and out of the house.

Materials: 10 popsicle sticks, 5 straws, 1 big piece of construction paper, 4 index cards and limited tape (3-4 ft). House must also be at least 5 inches tall. 

Before brainstorming we talked a little about aerodynamics and if we know the wind is coming from a certain direction we want to deflect the wind to go around our house so it doesn't blow it over. We also talk about how houses have a structure to hold them together and that a sturdy base of the house will help anchor it down and keep it together.