US SAILING Knowledge Base

Email this Article
Printer Version

egg drop

Egg Drop, The

Goal, Objective or Purpose of Activity:

Use found objects to create a protective packaging for an egg such that the egg will survive a fall from a given height

Appropriate Age Level: 8+

Minimum/Maximum Number of Participants: 2+

Set-up Time Required: 30 minutes – 1 hour

Activity Time Required: 30 minutes – 1 hour

Space Requirements: classroom, location to be able to drop the protected egg from a height of at least 2 stories

Materials/Resources:

1. Anything found – recyclables, trash, found items
2. Tape
3. Twine
4. Line
5. Raw eggs

Procedure for Teaching:

1. Give kids time to collect found objects to use for padding of egg
2. Instruct kids to build a structure to protect the egg from breaking when dropped from a designated height
3. Encourage kids to think about flight dynamics when building protective structure.
4. Judge projects on such things as engineering, style, creativity in addition to protective qualities
5. Give every entry a name and hype up the friendly competitive nature of “The Drop”
6. Drop eggs one by one. After each drop examine package to determine if egg survives unbroken.
7. Talk about why some structures were successful and others were not.

Student Product:

Extensions:

Contributor(s): Please take credit for this creative idea!