PEEPS! People seem to love them or hate them. With Easter almost here, you will see chick and bunny PEEPS on the shelves. Now is the time to buy them and have some fun. How? With an Easter Bunny Boat STEM Challenge, of course.Whether you want to have some fun before Easter OR use up the PEEPS after, here is a way to put them to good educational use.
What can be more fun than a STEM challenge?!
The Easter Bunny Boat STEM Challenge
The story is this:
The Easter Bunny has come to a flooded river. He needs to get across. Construct a boat or floating device the bunny can use to get across the river. It may take him up to 5 minutes. Make it sturdy.
The Challenge
Using only the materials provided, construct a boat or floating device. It must hold the PEEPS Bunny for up to 5 minutes. The bunny cannot get wet, and your boat must stay together.
Materials
- Bunny PEEPS
- 4 large craft sticks
- 3 feet of string or yarn
- 8 inches of tape
- 2 index cards
- 4 straws
- A piece of craft foam (3/4 the length of the index cards)
Let the Construction Begin
It became evident right off the kids were going to construct a raft. In my mind, I pictured boats with sides. I hadn’t made it clear to them what kind of boat design, though, so they ended up as rafts. Live and learn.
The kids experimented with different materials. They tried connecting the straws together in different ways, attaching the foam in various ways, and positioning things differently on the frames they designed. I loved watching the scientific process at work.
After tinkering around with their boats, it was time to test them out. Both felt pretty confident with their designs. Honestly, their boats were similar.
My son used his index card on the bottom on his boat and tied things together with yarn. My daughter placed the craft foam on the bottom and used the string as a rope to tie off with but no functional purpose. She favored using tape.
Did the Easter Bunny Float or Sink?
I filled our sink up with water. I only filled it with a couple of inches. The kids placed their rafts with bunnies in the water. I began timing them.
They floated!
We did not lose any bunnies in this challenge. Well, that’s not true. I accidentally tipped one over trying to check the bottom of one of the boats. The poor Easter Bunny face planted in the water and blue sugar began to swirl around.
So, in the end, the boats floated AND held together for five minutes. However, it became clear the paper on the bottom of my son’s boat was weakening, and the tape on my daughter’s boat was beginning to come off.
What Did They Learn from the boat STEM Challenge?
- They learned the paper on the bottom was not the best choice.
- The tape will eventually let go.
- The yarn would work well to tie the boat together. It wouldn’t fall apart like the tape.
- The straws work pretty well as floatation devices.
How to Add More of a Challenge?
- The Easter Bunny needs Easter treats with him.
Add jelly beans or mini eggs with the Easter Bunny. Now kids need to construct something that can hold the extra weight. They also need to make sure the items are balanced correctly so the boat doesn’t capsize. - Give specific guidelines on how the boat should be designed. Does the boat need to have sides? How long? How wide? Does it need a sail? There are lots of options.
By adding these new things to the challenge, it adds some difficulty to it. It is also a great way to extend the STEM challenge further.
**You might also like The Challenge is On: A STEM Tower Challenge. **
While PEEPS are still around, grab some and have a little fun with the kids. See what kind of boat they create. Give them the materials, tell them the guidelines, and set them loose. See if their Easter Bunny floats or goes swimming in the river. STEM challenges are a great way to build problem-solving skills. Plus, they are a lot of fun.
What STEM Challenges do you like to do?
