Egg Drop Experiment

Last month our class earned its 50th compliment for the year. The students thought of ideas with which to be rewarded and then voted on their favorite idea. A "Science Experiment" party was the winner! I had the task of coming up with an interesting science experiment for the reward. We invited our 7th & 8th grade friends to join us in the Egg Drop Experiment. Each group of one or two 3rd or 4th graders was paired with a 7th or 8th grader. They were given only the task of protecting their fragile egg from a drop off the playground. Groups selected items from a supply of paper, balloons, pipe cleaners, felt, toothpicks, plastic cups, glue, and tape. They used these items to create some sort of shield to absorb the impact of the fall and protect the egg inside.

Abbi and Jayden (above) create a shield of felt stuffed in two plastic cups which they joined together. Emily and Sarah (below) covered plastic cup with felt and cradled their egg in a nest of pipe cleaners and felt.

Brian, Jack, and Logan put felt in a plastic cup and placed the egg inside. They then encased the cup in 3-4 layers of felt. Cayla and Elaine (below) built a design that included two plastic cups attached together and stuffed with felt with the egg nestled inside. They created a cushion of yarn at the bottom of the two cups to absorb the landing and attached two balloons at the top to help the cups land right side up. Their design made the highest successful drop at 15 feet.