Home > Preschool Ideas > Pie Tin Boats – STEM challenge for the family

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.

Pie Tin Boats - challenge the family this summer with this simple engineering challenge to see who can make a boat out of pie cases and get it to go the fastest across the water.

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

Pie Tin Boats - challenge the family this summer with this simple engineering challenge to see who can make a boat out of pie cases and get it to go the fastest across the water.

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.

Pie Tin Boats - challenge the family this summer with this simple engineering challenge to see who can make a boat out of pie cases and get it to go the fastest across the water.

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.

Pie Tin Boats - challenge the family this summer with this simple engineering challenge to see who can make a boat out of pie cases and get it to go the fastest across 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.

Pie Tin Boats - challenge the family this summer with this simple engineering challenge to see who can make a boat out of pie cases and get it to go the fastest across the water.

Why not give our Floating and Sinking Activity a go whilst you are creating boats – you can investigate which materials would make the best and worst boats.

Pie Tin Boats - challenge the family this summer with this simple engineering challenge to see who can make a boat out of pie cases and get it to go the fastest across the water.

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

Pin it to your Summer Bucket List

Summer Craft and Science activity for kids - ideal to add to your summer bucket list now. Create pie tin boats, use materials discovered and man-made and challenge your family to create the fastest that they can

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Summer Craft and Science activity for kids - ideal to add to your summer bucket list now. Create pie tin boats, use materials discovered and man-made and challenge your family to create the fastest that they can

Author
Cerys Parker

Cerys is a marine biologist, environmental educator, teacher, mum, and home educator from the UK. She loves getting creative, whether it is with simple and easy crafts and ideas, activities to make learning fun, or delicious recipes that you and your kids can cook together you'll find them all shared here on Rainy Day Mum.

5 Comments

  1. 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.

  2. Our kids would love this. I love how they used ”wind power’ to make it go!

  3. Oooh. we are going to try this! Great idea! We have the same water table. 🙂

  4. 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.

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