Looking for Easter activities that your students will love but are more than just a craft or activity to pass the time? The Carrot Carriage STEM Challenge (or STEAM Challenge) will keep your students engaged in brain-busting work disguised as fun!

The basic premise: 

Working against criteria & constraints individually or in partners/groups, students will design and build a carriage made primarily of carrots that will hold cargo and roll downhill.

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Note: If you are in a 1:1 classroom, you may prefer the
digital format, compatible with Google Slides ™.

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Resource includes:

• NGSS aligned standards, Grades 2 – 8

• Teacher Tips:
  • Links to my 5-part video series on getting started with STEM challenges
  • Materials and timing
  • Criteria & Constraints (including modifications to increase difficulty for older students)
  • Measuring results
  • Universal STEM Challenge Notes & How to Use Student Handouts
  • Post-design extension activities list
  • Link to a video walk-through of the challenge

• Student Handouts:
  • Criteria & Constraints List (in color and B&W; editable version provided)
  • Results and Design Analysis (editable; 2-page regular spacing and 4-page expanded) spacing for primary students included in color and and B&W)
  • Discussion Questions (editable; color and B&W)

• Extension templates
  • Top 10 Reasons to Eat Your Carrots Template (editable)
  • Top 10 Reasons the Easter Bunny needs a Carrot Carriage (editable)
  • Estimate & Measure 1 (inches & centimeters; editable)
  • Estimate & Measure 2 (standard & non-standard with conversion table; editable)
  • Measure & Convert (customary to metric & within metric; editable)
  • Process Flow Map
  • Create Word Problems

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Sample/suggested materials for each student or group:

(Materials you’ll need to do the activity are easily modified.)

• • Note: The links below are Amazon Affiliate links. Find out more on the disclosure page.
    • Large carrots (4 – 6)
    • Small carrots (4 – 8)
    • Peeps bunnies (1)
    • Plastic eggs (1)
    • Butter knife or plastic knife (1)
    • Straws (1-2)
    • Toothpicks (10 – 20)
    • Brass fasteners (4 – 8)
    • Scissors
    • Ramp (1)
      • Simple ramp will be used to test designs (e.g. textbook propped at an angle)
    • Ruler (1)
      • Used to measure travel distance of carriages
    • Design analysis handouts (included in resource)

    Optional:

    • Cutting boards
    • Rubber bands
    • Balloons
    • String/yarn
    • Foil

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Benefits of this STEM Design Challenge:

• Focus on critical thinking, problem solving, and application of learning
• Helps students develop growth mindset traits like persistence and resilience
• High levels of student engagement
• The potential to hit upon all NGSS ETS standards depending on the depth and number of iterations you choose to implement in your classroom (modifications included)
• Highly flexible and differentiated for materials, timing, grade levels, and rigor.

Each design iteration should be planned for ~60 min. if you are including data gathering and analysis rather than just building for fun. If you add extension activities, you will need to adjust timing accordingly.

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This resource is available in a digital 1:1 format, compatible with Google Slides (TM), as well as in discounted bundles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Preview Music Credit:

“Carefree” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/