Pie Tin Boats – STEM challenge for the family
Last week I shared our setting up for summer success with chalk as part of our playful preschool blog posts. As I explained I like to keep the learning that we do over the summer free flow and not as structured as we would during term time. One of the ways that we do this is work on projects together that may or may not involve writing and in some cases, the whole family from much older (Ummm adults) to the youngest members can join in and this week’s post on the theme of Water is one of them. We set the kids and adults an engineering challenge to create the best boat to float on our water table or in the paddling pool out of foil pie cases which we happened to have left over from our picnic lunch.
Materials needed
Some water – from pool to washing up bowl
Pie Tins[affiliate link]
Sticks, twigs, leaves from around the yard
Learning Objectives
- To use prior knowledge and apply to a new situation
- Problem solve an engineering challenge
Setting the Challenge
I love setting the family a challenge and we did – to make a boat travel from one end of the water table to the other using only a pie tins and natural materials from the garden and your own breath.
The kids had such a blast working out what sort of shape they should make the pie case into and then trying to work out how they could make it float and blow it along the water.
Who won? Well I have no clue we were all laughing so much with tears rolling down our faces that I didn’t see especially when some family members cheated.
More Water Themed activities from the #playfulpreschool bloggers
Alphabet Activities: Washing the Letter Dishes by Growing Book by Book
Alphabet Hunt in a Water Sprinkler by Mom Inspired Life
Turn Your Water Bottles into Musical Instruments by Life Over C’s
Pie Tin Boats – an engineering challenge for the whole family by Rainy Day Mum
Making a Solar Still-a Water Desalination Experiment by Capri + 3#
Water Displacement Experiment by Fun-A-Day
Gross Motor Water Play and Learning by Tiny Tots Adventures
Drip, Drip, Drop | Ourdoor Water Game for Kids by The Educators’ Spin On It
This will be so much fun! We love family challenges and I love dominating them and taking the win. Can’t wait to present this and kick all there butts cause my boat will float and make it over first.
This would be perfect for a family fun night!
Our kids would love this. I love how they used ”wind power’ to make it go!
Oooh. we are going to try this! Great idea! We have the same water table. 🙂
So simple, but so much learning takes place! Will be trying soon. Although after seeing those pie tins, I am hungry for pie and may insist upon baking before science and engineering.