Design headwear to balance an apple on your head as you compete in a relayrace.
Materials
Card stock
Popsicle sticks
Pipe cleaners
Paper
Masking tape
String
Paper clips
Rubber bands
Apples
Scissors
Method
Divide students into groups of 3–4 and distribute materials to each team.
Outline the competition.
Each student must make their own headwear that can balance an apple on top of their head.
Students cannot touch the headwear or the apple during their leg of the relay but can transfer the apple to their teammate using their hands when their leg has ended.
Have students spend time planning.
Build, test and improve.
Race! Create an apple relay back and forth across the classroom.
Take It Back to Class
Host multiple relay events and give students an opportunity to improve their headwear in between each event. Have teams track their total time to complete each relay event to see if they improve.
Add material constraints for an extra challenge (e.g. only a certain quantity of each material).