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Winter STEAM Challenge - Candy Cane (or Cookie) Catastrophe!
Welcome to our Winter STEAM Challenge!
Students will design a package to ship 2 full size candy canes and they should get the lightest weight package that gets the candy canes there undamaged.
*If you are unable to use candy canes in your classroom for whatever reason, feel free to turn this into the Cookie Catastrophe challenge!
Possible Materials:
2 Full Size Candy Canes
Cookies can be substituted, or mini candy canes (unwrapped)
Different sized paper bags
Pipe cleaners
Popsicle/craft sticks
tissue paper
coffee filters
cotton balls
balloons
string/yarn
rubber bands
paper cups
construction paper
cable ties
cardboard
Tape (scotch, masking, blue, etc.)
scissors
Scale - to measure weight criterion
Where can you get materials (other than purchasing it all yourself)?
Ask students to each bring in something
Ask parents to donate items
Science Center - I can give you many of these basic items! Just give me a bit of notice...
See if anything is already in your school's STEAM Lab
Purpose: To design the lightest weight package to "ship" 2 candy canes without any breakage.
**What "Shipping" means will be up to you. This could be a drop from a specific height, rolling down a set of stairs, throwing across a field, or a set of obstacles. You could even have the students help decide before you begin and talk about how items get shipped from stores to homes.
Helpful Links:
This activity should be done multiple times. Once they "ship" their candy canes, they should open the package and examine if there are any breaks or damage.
If there are - try again - fix the package and try to keep those candy canes safe for shipping.
If there aren't - great! But, can they make the package even lighter? Remember, the lighter the package, the less we pay at the post office!
Don't forget about the Engineering Design Process! Give them time to IMPROVE their designs, to TEST them out, 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:
Make it an actual shipping/budgeting activity - each ounce/pound costs an amount like at the post office. See if they can create their package under a certain money amount, or within a range. Don't forget that the materials could cost money too!
Look into some careers that would relate to this challenge such as candy makers, shipping workers (UPS, USPS, FedEx), chemists (the chemistry behind the candy!), marketing specialists (think about all those candy commercials), entrepreneur (candy store owner), and more!
Share with parents or during STEAM Night! Have students show how they made their shipping containers. Maybe even set up a station for the families to try to make their own!
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 something that 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 : Candy Cane Catastrophe by Feel Good Teaching
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