Growing a STEM Classroom

I stumbled upon one of the coolest things I have seen in a long time...INDOOR SNOWBALLS!  I just knew I had to create something STEM related in order to get to play with these in my classroom!  They come in 20 and 40 packs.  Click on the picture for the link to these on Amazon!

The students had to complete the following STEM Engineering Challenge:

Can you design and build a snowball catapult that launches the snowball the farthest distance?

Materials: (per group)

One indoor snowball (homemade or premade)
Variety of building materials (cardboard, paper, popsicle sticks, rubber bands, tongue depressor sticks, etc.)
Plastic spoons
Tape, scissors and glue
Tape measure

There were some pretty simple rules to follow as well, and the kids had a blast constructing their own catapults!  Here are some of their designs:

Students got to test their snowball catapults at their tables as they built them and then in the hallway when we were testing them.  They had a blast!  Click on the picture below for the link to the $2 lab pack.