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.

We are gearing up for our next monthly challenge...BUBBLES!  We do not do anything holiday related since not all of our students celebrate the same ones, so we figured bubbles would be perfect!  These monthly school-wide challenges are purposely left open-ended so teachers can extend them as they wish.  I know in my grade level we plan to do circles in math at this time as well as dry ice bubbles and some other labs.  It should be fun!  We chose three books to include with the challenge this time and they are perfect (one is amazingly funny and informative)!  Here is the link to the December challenge packet, you could actually use it for ANY month!

Here are the books we are using.  Click on each one to be taken to the Amazon link if you are interested in purchasing them!

"Pop! A Book About Bubbles" is a great non-fiction book for all grade levels and gives great explanations about bubbles. 

"Bubble Trouble" is a fictional story about bubbles causing a lot of trouble!  Super cute!

"Bubble Homes and Fish Farts" has to be my favorite!  I thought it would be a gimmick, but it actually contains a huge amount of great information about how different animals use bubbles as an adaptation in order to survive!  I highly recommend this one even if you are not doing this challenge.  It is a fantastic book!

I hope you find a way to incorporate bubbles into your classroom!  The possibilities are endless!

We completed our monthly STEM challenge and found some unbelievable results!  Our pumpkin was pretty big, and it had a lot of seeds!  We actually cut the pumpkin into six slices, one per table and it gave us a great view of the inner workings of the pumpkin!

I just recently created this Engineering Challenge FREEBIE!  My kids will be doing this one after Thanksgiving Break and I will be sure to post pics of their designs!  I hope you can use it in your classroom, too!  Click here for this freebie!

Happy holidays and happy engineering to you!

We participate in monthly challenges as a whole school.  They are a great way to bring the school together!  We post data and results in a central location near the front office.  The challenge for October is called ~ Counting Pumpkins!  Each class received two books, one fiction and one non-fiction to keep and use in the classroom.  Literacy is really important in our building so whenever we can make a connection to literacy, we do!  Here are the two books each classroom received:

How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? by Margaret McNamara

Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin, Pie by Jill Esbaum

Each classroom also received a packet to help guide them through the challenge!  I found HUGE pumpkins at a local market and I got one for each classroom.  I also provided metal trays (the kind for a turkey) from the dollar store for each room to help reduce the mess!

Here is the link to the packet!  It only costs $2.50 for the 10 page packet.  Why not see if your school would be interested in doing their own school-wide challenge?

I absolutely love the work of this teacher!  Sue Cahalane has an amazing blog called "Science for Kids" and if you haven't checked it out yet, you should!  Click here for the link to this wonderful science blog.  She just created a packet based on the Engineering Design Process and it is super easy to understand and use!  The primary teachers at my school love it and it would be a huge help to anyone starting out (or anywhere in) the STEM process!

Here is the link to this fantastic freebie!  Check out her store, it is full of great science resources specifically designed for K-4 kids!

Enjoy!

I have to say that I was totally surprised at how challenging this STEM challenge really is since it seems so simple!  Here is the challenge question:

Can your team build a puzzle without speaking and without seeing the picture on the box in the fastest time?

The fastest team completed the challenge in just over 15 minutes and the slowest team completed it in just over 24 minutes.   They all felt as if they had accomplished a huge task and they worked together to do it! Yeah!  We used 100 piece puzzles from the Dollar Tree that were all Spongebob themed!  The students did not get to see the box at all, but since they were familiar with the topic it helped a little.  

Want to try this challenge with your kiddos?  Here is the link to the STEM Challenge.

I wonder how fast your kids could accomplish this challenge?