I LOVE STEM ACTIVITIES!  I am always trying to find a new challenge to give my kids (hence, this STEM tower challenge). Why I like STEM so much is because it makes kids think, evaluate, and try again. Not to mention, so many of the activities use simple items around the house. Kids are able to see many uses of everyday objects they encounter. They may not look at a straw the same way again.

So when our science experiment was a no-go, I began searching for a STEM activity to take its place. Who knew we didn’t have the materials to make a flashlight?! For some odd reason, I thought we did. Luckily, there is Pinterest to save the day.

On the site Teachers Are Terrific, I found the Bucket Tower challenge. It seemed like a fun idea. I decided to give it a try but made a few modifications. I decided to give each kid a set amount of each material. I did not want this to become a massive tape tower when they were done. Then I set out to explain the challenge to them.

The STEM Tower Challenge

Each child, or team, is to construct a STEM tower in which the bucket is not touching the surface. The tower must be able to hold at least ten pennies without collapsing. The champion is the tower that can withstand the most weight.

I did not give a time limit for this challenge, though you could. I knew this would not be an issue for my kids. I was more interested to see what they would come up with without the constraints of time than how fast they could do it.

On Your Mark, Get Set, Go

The materials for this challenge are:

• 18 inches of masking tape
• 1 bathroom cup (paper or plastic)
• 12 inches of yarn or string
• 16 drinking straws
• scissors for cutting the items, if needed

I gave my son and daughter their own set of materials, and they began building their STEM towers. Very quickly, they each had a tower that was different from the other. My son had a tower that was going to be as big as he could get it. My daughter was building smaller and in a pyramid shape. It was quite evident which strategy was going to work.

My son, whom I love dearly, is very impulsive and always makes a big impression in whatever he does. He doesn’t live by the motto of less is more. He goes all out. So in this case, his tower kept leaning and struggling to stay upright since he was making it so big.

My daughter’s tower came together nicely. It was strong and sturdy. This kind of sums up her way of life. She plans things out and thinks things through to make sure she has done a thorough job.

Once they had completed their towers, it was time to test if they could hold the weight of the pennies. They each added pennies into their buckets.

The Results of Our STEM Tower Challenge

As the pictures show, my daughter’s pyramid tower could hold a lot more pennies. In fact, her tower held 100 pennies. The pyramid was low to the ground, reinforced, and stable. It didn’t show signs of collapsing as the weight was added to it.

My son’s tower became the “leaning” tower in no time. We held our breath every time a penny was dropped in the bucket. It was around the eighth penny when the bucket hit the table. It was leaning too much. He had an idea on how to stabilize it by taping some yarn off the top of the tower to the table to keep it from leaning. Unfortunately, he had used all of his tape by this time. He tried taking some off of the structure but the tape wasn’t sticky enough to hold. It was a good idea, though.

{RELATED: Lego Balloon Cars, STEM Straw Activities, 14 STEM Activities with Popsicle Sticks, and Quick STEM Activities for Kids.}

Not Quite Over

We always approach our STEM challenges as a scientist. If it worked, why? If it didn’t work, what can we do to make it work? We analyze and try again.

My daughter remembered from past experiments that the pyramid shape is strong. Clearly, this was the case for this STEM tower challenge. It worked well for her. She also realized that a tall structure would not work the best because it would tip over more easily.

My son, oh my son, he was not going to give up and accept that bigger was NOT better. He decided the best fix was to tie the top off like a guidewire. I gave him a little more tape, since the challenge was over, to try and improve his tower. When he taped it off, he was able to get the tower to hold more pennies, but it was still unstable. He made it work, though, so that’s what mattered. He was also very happy with it.

My kids had fun with this challenge and were asking to do another one the next day. It would be easy to try this same activity another day and have them find a different approach than they did this time. You can modify it to make it a little different by adding in some different materials than they used this time. There are a lot of options.

The discussions that follow these kinds of activities are the best part. Kids can learn why others approached the challenge the way they did.  They get a different perspective they may not have seen for themselves. That is why STEM activities are such a great learning tool.