Have you ever had a Pinterest fail? I know I have!
Sometimes a project seems like unicorns and rainbows in theory and then you try doing it in your own classroom and everything turns into chaos.
Kids are off task…
The project flops…
That’s why I love having my go-to resources like Learn With Mochi where I *KNOW* the lessons will always be a success.
It’s such a huge time saver!
Speaking of Pinterest WINS, I wanted to pass along this simple STEM project so you can print it out and add it to your lesson plans…
Getting Ready
Prepping the project was really as simple as gathering together supplies for each group:
- 15 pipe cleaners (including one of each color in the rainbow if possible)
- A small container of playdough
- Scissors
- One record sheet for each child
And then, for testing later, I grabbed a small plastic cup filled with 50 pennies.
Rainbow STEM Challenge
Each group had the same goal: building the strongest rainbow.
To successfully complete the challenge, however, I set out some extra rules. The rainbows had to:
- Stand on their own
- Use 15 or fewer pipe cleaners each
- Not use any other material like tape or staples to bind the pipe cleaners together.
- Stand at least 4 inches (10 cm) tall
Since a big piece of STEM learning is design, teamwork and problem solving, I had students first work with their groups to create a plan on their record sheet.
Then they set out to actually build their rainbow!
After all of the groups had finished creating, it was time to test the strength of the arcs.
The kids were so excited to see what design was the strongest!
To stretch students’ thinking, we talked about what worked well and what needed to be tweaked next time.
Then kids set off to adjust their designs before we tested them again to see if there was any improvement.
Extension Activity
A simple way to build students’ creativity is having them use leftover pipe cleaners to make their own design: trees, animals… anything!
I’m including an extension record sheet in the download (below) for you too.
