Engineering a Puff Mobile

As an introduction to the Engineering Design Process, the second grade students have been challenged to engineer a vehicle that can be powered by one puff of air. The challenge sounded easy at first, but as these young engineers are quickly finding out, it isn’t!

Do you think you could design a vehicle based on this set of criteria and constraints?

• The vehicle must move in a forward direction.
• You may only use 1 puff of air.
• You may not touch the vehicle during the test.
• Your vehicle must remain on the track.
• You may only use the following materials: 4 mints, 2 straws, 2 paper clips, 1 piece of paper, and clear tape.
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Harmless Holders

After viewing pictures of animals that were entangled in the plastic holders that are commonly used to bundle bottles of water together, the fourth and fifth grade students unanimously agreed that this was a STEM challenge worthy of their expertise. These packaging engineers are now diligently working to design an animal friendly way to carry six water bottles. Check out their great thinking and their current design plans.