Engineering Project: Designing a Snowball Catapult for a STEM Competition
In the heart of winter, a unique learning opportunity has emerged, combining fun and education - the DIY Snowball Launcher STEM Challenge. This engaging activity, designed for kindergarten through middle school students, has been created by a collaboration of educators and STEM enthusiasts, often found on educational platforms or maker communities.
This challenge, perfect for classroom use, snow days, winter break, or any time for hands-on STEM learning, encourages improvement of problem-solving and creativity skills. With supplies such as craft sticks, rubber bands, plastic spoons, cotton balls or mini marshmallows, duct tape or heavy-duty tape, glue sticks or hot glue gun, small paper or plastic cups, balloons, and toilet paper tubes, students embark on a building adventure.
During the build process, students discuss the effect of force and motion on launching objects, sketch designs, create a sturdy base, attach a pivoting plastic spoon, and reinforce the structure. They are not just constructing a snowball launcher; they are learning about levers, making it a great introduction to simple machines.
The laws of motion, as formulated by Sir Isaac Newton, are at the core of this challenge. Newton's First Law of Motion, A snowball at rest stays at rest until a force propels it, is explored as students design and build their launchers. Newton's Second Law, The acceleration of an object depends on the force applied, is applied as students observe how the angle and tension of the spoon affect the velocity and distance. Newton's Third Law, For every action (pulling the spoon), there is an equal and opposite reaction (snowball launch), is demonstrated vividly in the snowball launcher challenge.
The challenge offers various extensions to cater to different levels of interest and skill. For instance, hitting a target with the snowball can be a precision challenge, Whose snowball travels the farthest or highest can be a competition, and building a launcher with multiple arms to shoot two snowballs simultaneously is a design challenge.
After building, students test their launcher by launching cotton balls or mini marshmallows and measuring the distance using a ruler or tape measure. A snowball-launching fun event can be held to demonstrate the launchers, reflect on what worked, celebrate creativity, and discuss the role of STEM in the designs.
So, grab your supplies, gather your students, and get ready for a winter filled with learning, creativity, and fun with the DIY Snowball Launcher STEM Challenge!
