Newspaper Engineering

NOTE:  You don’t have to get the daily newspaper to do this mini spark.  Ask your neighbors, ask your teacher and/or EY Coordinator and have fun!

Challenge # 1:  Build the tallest freestanding tower with only 2 sheets of newspaper and 12 inches of tape. No wedging or taping to the table or floor! You can manipulate the newspaper in any way you wish.

Challenge #2: Using 10 sheets of newspaper and 18 inches of tape, build a tower that holds a textbook 6 inches above the table for at least 3 seconds. The tower must be free-standing, which means no taping or holding to the table.

Challenge #3:  Use 3 large sheets of newspaper and 24 inches of tape to make a piece of clothing that you can wear.

When you’re finished with your projects, take a picture and email it to your EY Coordinator.

It’s Fall Y’All and when I think of Fall, I think of FOOTBALL!

For this STEAM mini spark, you will need to…

1. Build football goal posts out of materials you have around your house.
2. Fold a paper football (instructions linked below)
3. Design an experiment, create a competition, or come up with your own original idea to use what you built.  Your project should include collecting some sort of data and analyzing it.
4. Share your project with your EY Coordinator.

Paper Folding Football Instructions:  https://www.instructables.com/How-To-Make-A-Paper-Football/

Football Image Source: https://openclipart.org/detail/102853/football

Spring is in the air! Learn all about the blooming power of flowers and then do a hands-on activity creating a blooming flower and card to give to someone special.

Step 1: Watch this Mystery Science video about how flowers bloom.

Step 2: Gather needed materials to complete the activity.

• Crayons
• Scissors
• Dot Stickers or Tape
• Plastic Paper Plate or Bowl

Step 3: In this activity, you will make a colorful paper flower and a greeting card that they can give to any special person in their life. When placed in water, the paper flower will unfold, appearing to move and bloom in front of your eyes! You may want to use this as a Mother’s Day activity, but you choose who will receive the card, so it can be for anyone special.

Click on the image below to print template and view step-by-step instructions.

Once your flowers are complete, place them in water to watch them bloom!

Extension: You can see for yourself how water moves inside a plant. Fill a glass with water and add a few drops of red or blue food coloring. Place a white flower in the glass. Wait a few hours and watch to see what happens. Look closely at the flower petals. What do you notice? Repeat this experiment, but use a stalk of celery or a lettuce leaf. What do you predict will happen?

Alright Stop! Collaborate and visit…

These 3 “cool” websites with some awesome ice inventions!

For this STEAM Mini Spark, check out the 3 websites listed below.  Each one has a video and some information to read.

For each website/video, write down:

3 new things you learned

2 things you wonder

1 question you have

1. Building Frozen Castles with the Master of Ice

2. The 3-million-year old Ningwu ice cave never thaws

3. Ice Drumming on Lake Baikal

Code a spooky game for others to play. Follow the tutorial instructions to make a simple game. Customize your game to make it your very own.

Paper airplanes are pieces of art. Watch this video showing a paper airplane that has flapping wings like a bat. After watching, try to make one of your own.

Website Directions for coding challenge:  Creating your own stamp in Bitsbox

Video Directions for  coding challenge:  Link

Looking for a really fun STEM challenge that you can do at home? This mystery bag STEM design challenge is a blast!

• One bag (you can use gift bags, lunch bags, grocery bags, or even large baggies.)
• Scissors
• Tape (scotch tape or masking tape)
• Various kinds of recyclables (cardboard tubes, cardboard, newspaper, aluminum foil)
• A variety of other materials (paper plates, plastic cups, string, yarn, pipe cleaners)
• Mystery Bag Challenge Cards (print and cut these if you can)

Step Two: Fill Your Bag (Tip: it’s more challenging if a sibling or parent fills your bag)

Place about 8-12 items into the bag. You’ll want to be sure the items are varied. Each bag should contain at least one larger item that can serve as a base for the design, and then an assortment of smaller items.

Step Three: Print out the free mystery bag challenge cards. Cut them apart.

Step Four: Draw a challenge card. You could put the cards in a container to draw from or place face down on a table.

Step Five: Complete the challenge on the card using only the materials in your bag.

Bonus: Earn a  badge. If you complete FIVE mystery bag design challenges, you can earn the Mystery Design Challenge Badge. Go for it!!

Here is video I made at my old school where I challenged my students to create an innovative dog toy. Just ignore anytime I say, “Hey Bobcats”

For this challenge, create your best snow person/people, forts, and/or other snow creations!

Learn about the engineering behind snow building by watching the videos below.

Send a picture of your project to your teacher asking them to forward it to your email. Make a pic collage showing what you learned.