Teaching Force and Motion? Try this as a first lab for roller coasters!

As our first lab in our roller coaster science labs, my kids each made a roller coaster out of a legal sized file folder, masking tape, and scissors.  I did not give them many restrictions.  They had about 45 minutes to complete the task.  While many of them struggled at first, they quickly began to figure it out.

They came up with so many creative ways to make a roller coaster with easy to find supplies!  

This was a great way to get them solving problems, making changes, and figuring things out!

We are going to continue with our roller coasters using the foam pipe insulators and the paper roller coasters.

We will redo this activity at the end of the unit to see how they do.  I'm guessing they will be able to make even better roller coasters!