Boats Afloat Challenge

Over the summer, the kids have expressed interest in various topics such as the solar system, insects, earthquakes and boats. I always like to include the kids’ interests in lessons. So, during a series of lessons on water, buoyancy, and surface tension, I incorporated a boat challenge. The boat challenge was designed to cultivate critical thinking skills and creativity using a topic of interest.

The goal for the children was to build a boat using only 10 straws, 10 inches of plastic wrap, and tape. Also, the boats had to be able to hold 25 pennies for at least 10 seconds.

In the video below you will see that the children had to build, test, rebuild and retest their boats. In the end, most of the children were able to build a boat that could hold over 40 pennies before sinking.

Chrystalin W. (3rd,4th,5th grade teacher)