Here’s one of my kids’ and students’ absolute favorite STEM challenge: an egg drop challenge! In this post you’ll see some egg contraptions from this year’s egg drop project, as well as some free printable recording sheets to use in the classroom. Be sure to also check out the links to past egg drop challenges!
Follow our Science for Kids Pinterest board!
The egg drop challenge has been one of our favorite science activities for years! It’s such a fun STEM activity that really gets the kids thinking and is perfect for just about any age.
Be sure to check out our previous egg drop challenges to see past creations by both younger children and upper elementary grades:
The Egg Drop Challenge 2015
What is an egg drop challenge?
Taking part in the egg drop challenge has become an annual tradition for us to do at home and with my husband’s students at school. If you’ve never heard of the egg drop project, the idea is to create a contraption that will protect an egg from cracking or breaking from a high fall. You can make this as simple or complex as you want depending on the amount of time you have and the ages of kids you are working with.
How to Do the Egg Drop Challenge in the Classroom
This year my husband’s 4th grade students brought materials from home to the classroom. They then used those materials as a basis for their egg containers. Some students worked in pairs or small groups, while others chose to work independently to design and build their own egg contraptions. They used our free planning printable to record their designs.
After each contraption was built, the kids displayed them in the classroom. Students were encouraged to walk around and examine each egg container and predict whether it would protect an egg from a high fall using our free printable recording sheet.
After making their predictions, eggs were placed inside each container, and the students excitedly headed outside for the test!
The kids had a blast watching each egg container fall and inspecting whether it had protected the egg. They hypothesized as to why certain containers worked and others didn’t.
This is definitely one of the kids’ favorite science activities of the year, and we can’t wait to do it again next spring!
Be sure to check out STEAM Kids book and ebook for even more creative STEM and STEAM ideas!
