Tag Archives: stem

Stem challenges

This week we worked in groups to complete different STEM challenges. We discussed the importance of team work, communication, problem solving and creativity before completing each activity.

Challenge 1: What is the strongest boat you can make using kitchen foil and no other materials? We enjoyed testing how many marbles our boats could hold before they sank. ⛵️

Challenge 2: Using a water dropper, how many drops of water can you fit on different coins? 🪙

Challenge 3: What is the tallest tower you can make with one pack of cards? 🃏♣️ This was definitely the most challenging of them all!

Challenge 4: How long can you make a paper chain using only one sheet of paper, scissors and glue? 📄🖇

Bone bridge stem challenge

We worked in pairs to complete a Halloween STEM challenge. Our challenge was to use the resources provided to make a bone bridge that was strong enough to carry a spider (a toy spider of course!)

We used straws, lollipop sticks, string, pipe cleaners, cotton buds and sellotape. First we designed and drew a picture of our bridge on paper. Next we used the materials to build our bridge. This was challenging!

After that we presented our bone bridge to the class and tested the strength of each one. Check out some pictures from our stem challenge below. 🕷🌉

Lung models

As part of our human body topic, we learned about the lungs and the respiratory system; the group of organs and body tissues associated with breathing. We took part in different types of exercise to see the effect this would have on our breathing.

Next we made a model of the lungs using a plastic bottle and balloons.

The balloon at the bottom works like your diaphragm—a strong muscle that expands and contracts to cause your lungs to fill with air and then empty out again. The movement of the balloon matches your breathing – when you breathe in, your lungs fill with air just like the balloon inside the bottle did. That’s because the diaphragm expanded making room for air inside the lung. When you breathe out, your diaphragm contracts (or squeezes in) pushing all the air out of your lungs. 🎈🫁😮‍💨