This event was created for my 3rd graders. They had noticed the STEM Lab agenda and the older students were completing egg events. Of course, they wanted something with eggs, too!

So, we tried Egg Cars.

The idea is to build a car that will carry an egg down a ramp. Trust me, building a car is challenging for third graders! We always struggle a little with those axles and wheels.

NOTE: This is not an Egg drop event, but we do use real eggs!

TIP: Have a plastic car on hand to show students where the axle of a car is placed on the car body. This makes so much more sense to them when they can see it working before they try to build it.

One of my favorite parts of this challenge is seeing how the students decorate their little egg cars. This one has headlights!

This challenge is our 4th-grade egg event. It seems like such a simple challenge, but it is more difficult than you would think!   It’s the Fabulous Egg Tower!

 The goal of the egg tower is to build a tall structure that will hold an egg at the top.

We tested with plastic eggs first. THen we switched to real eggs.

Two different kinds of paper have been tried with this challenge- newspaper and heavy brown paper.

A lot of our structures resemble platforms more than towers and they were not tall. Still, the weight of the egg was a factor in creating a sound structure.

TIP: When do we use a real egg? We always test with an empty plastic egg first. This lets the students know that the egg will fit wherever it is they are going to place it. Then we use a weighted plastic egg. If the structure works with the heavier egg then they can try a real egg.  

This is our 5th-grade challenge! It involves many steps to get to the point we drop a real egg from a very great height! It’s the Great Egg Parachute Challenge!

 This challenge is one I usually complete with larger teams.

One-half of the team builds the carrier for the egg and must focus on making the egg safe. The other half of the team creates the parachute.

After finishing the egg carrier the next step is to attach the parachute to it and then drop it. First with an empty plastic egg and if the carrier works, they try a weighted egg.

For the real egg test, I climb to the top of a 20-foot ladder and drop the parachute!

TIP: Finally, here’s the best tip ever about eggs! Place the real egg in a zippered bag before students use it for any of these challenges. If it hits the ground and breaks you will have no mess to clean up. Just throw away the bag!

This egg drop event is a unique challenge that requires the use of a pole. We use a 5-foot long PVC pipe, but a broomstick will also work great!   I call this one an Egg Drop Ride!

The goal of this challenge is to create a device that will slide down the pole and land softly enough to keep the egg from breaking.

We test this one with an empty egg or a ping-pong ball. If the cups holding the egg land softly we try a weighted egg. This always brings groans.

That heavier-weighted plastic egg will land much harder than the empty one.   Here’s a quick video showing a drop that works- with a ping pong ball!

This challenge was designed for younger students. My 4th graders really, really wanted to try an egg drop. I thought the original egg parachute was too challenging.

So, we invented an easier version.

In this Egg Drop challenge students build a parachuting device that will safely land an egg. The twist is that we only drop it at a distance of 3 feet.

The rules of this task make it simple enough for your younger students!