The children had somewhat of a fun day today at school. They were split into teams and had to collaborate and complete two challenges. First, they had to design something to protect an egg from a fall from a height. Each group were given a resource pack with the same resources to create their design. In their individual groups they discussed, trialled and evaluated many designs before finalising on one to showcase.
Great fun was had testing out their designs, with each group very excited to show what they created. All three of the eggs ‘survived’ the first drop so we decided to test the designs further. The second height saw two casualties with only one egg surviving the fall. There was great excitement uncovering the two wrapped eggs to see what lay under the padding!
The second challenge was to design a catapult. After a quick discussion on forces and catapults the groups were each given another resource pack to create a catapult to project an object forward. After collaborating, designing and formulating plans and prototypes they settled on one finished product each. We put these to the test again in the playground and saw how well they worked and what improvements could be made to make their catapult more effective.
The children worked on many skills through these challenges such as communication, creativity, enquiry, maths, science and engineering, design and critical thinking skills. While working together the younger and older children had the opportunity to share knowledge and experience and learn from each other working in their groups. It was a great opportunity to develop and practice new and old skills.
We finished the day with a quiz and went home happy with easter eggs from the School and Parent’s Association.
Have a look at the videos below of the challenges.
We hope you all have a great Easter Break and look forward to our return on Monday the 25th of April.