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Fall STEAM Challenge - Last Tree Standing
Welcome to our next STEAM Activity! Fall brings beautiful colors to the trees in different places all around the country.
Have you also noticed how strong and balanced trees are? Until something stronger can move it: such as an earthquake, a major flood, years of wind, or humans, of course.
Our STEAM Challenge will take a look at the balance of trees and see if we can recreate that with different materials!
Make your first tree!
This can be a sample one that the teacher makes, or you can have the whole class (or in groups) make the same one, then go from there. I suggest using poster board, file folders, or something strong, but not super strong, for the first tree.
Start with a full size page, then fold it in half.
Draw a picture of a tree! Just a basic tree - trunk and circular leaf area.
Cut out the tree. The top part can just be cut around the leaves or it can be on the line - it doesn't matter. Make sure to cut across the bottom of the trunk, you are making two complete trees.
Draw a line, then cut on each tree. One should come from the top of one tree about halfway down, the other should go from the bottom and go about halfway up.
Bring the trees together through the slots. The bottom slot should go through the top slot.
Flatten out the trees and tape together one side with two short pieces of tape.
Open it up and your tree should stand! *You may have to recut the bottom to make sure it is straight.
How strong is your tree?
This tree is not very strong. Show the students how a light breeze can easily knock it down (blow on it). This is obvious because we didn't use a very strong material, we don't have roots on our tree, and we just quickly drew it out and didn't try to make it nice and evenly balanced. So, let's get to the challenge!
Purpose: Design, build, and test multiple trees to find the strongest one that can withstand a light breeze.
Questions to think about:
What materials will be the most effective?
How can you make sure it is as balanced and even as it can be?
We won't be able to have roots, which usually hold trees in place. How else can you design your tree to withstand that light breeze and be the last tree standing?
Helpful things you can use:
When designing their trees, they can use a variety of other materials. However, they should still be able to cut through it. A great place to get free, sturdy cardstock materials is the mail! Our junk mail is full of political flyers that use pretty good cardstock - start collecting, and have other teachers and parents bring that in for the students to use!
Brainstorming Ideas:
Will they want to make the trunk taller/shorter or fatter/thinner?
Will they want to be more precise/symmetrical on the leafy part?
The sample is a basic tree - get creative! Make a tree with more than 2 parts, will it stand better?
This is all about the Engineering Design Process! Give them time to TEST their designs, to IMPROVE on them, and SHARE their results!
Engineers and scientists and many other people in multiple industries do this all the time!
This is also a great time to talk about FAILURE!
Failure is part of life! Failure is OK and good for us! Famous people, inventors, heroes, and more FAIL all the time! We would never improve if we didn't fail!
Extensions:
Look into some careers that would work with this field (trees) such as park ranger (monitors state/national parks, enforce laws regarding natural resources), horticulturist (plant expert), nature photographer, or even a tree surgeon (the study of trees and shrubs and looks for signs of decay and disease). There are also biochemists, lawyers, ecologists, geoscientists, and people who run nonprofit groups like One Tree Planted.
Look into planting trees, volunteering with a nonprofit to help out, or bring in a speaker to talk about the importance of trees and parks.
Share with parents or during STEAM Night! Have students show how they made their trees. Maybe even set up a station for the families to try to make their own!
Invite younger students in to show them their trees or maybe make some with them.
The Post-Build: After the build ends, here are some ideas!
Gallery Walk: Silent, hands-behind-the-back lap around the room to check out everyone’s designs. Quick, respectful, and sparks curiosity.
Group Share-Outs: Each group gets 2–3 minutes to present their design, explain choices, and share next steps.
Student-Led Q&A: Other students ask questions based on criteria, design choices, or creative features—modeled early in the year to build strong habits.
Individual Reflection: Students complete a design analysis handout on their own. It gives space for quiet thinkers to process and reflect deeply.
Optional Group/Whole Class Discussion: You can close out with a discussion depending on time, learning style preferences, or group needs.
Don't forget to REFLECT!
Don't forget to REFLECT!
Questions to ask the students:
What was the most effective design? Why?
Was there a pattern to what worked well for each group?
Is there a material that would have worked well that we didn't have?
What frustrated you about this challenge?
If we did this challenge again in a month, what would you do differently?
How well do you think your group collaborated, cooperated, and communicated to each other?
How was this challenge about perseverance?
Why Reflect in STEM?
Why Reflect in STEM?
Reflection in STEM is essential to both student understanding and teacher evaluation of students’ learning. Reflecting helps students make connections, understand their successes and failures, and become aware of their learning. Reflections help teachers identify where different students are in their learning process.
MOST IMPORTANTLY - HAVE FUN!!!
Adapted from: Lakeshore Learning Build a Tree
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