Discover Engineering Challenge Videos
Student co-hosts Miranda and Star of STEM Next’s 2024 Flight Crew introduce the Engineering Design Process with
seven exciting challenges.
See below for videos and links to activity instructions!
Find this free engineering activity and more than 170 others in our Activities library!
Action Contraption
Have you ever seen a fun yet overly complex machine designed to accomplish a simple task? If so, it may have been an “action contraption” inspired by Rube Goldberg—an engineer, inventor, and cartoonist. Your challenge is to use household materials to build a simple chain-reaction machine.
Balloon Bust
What happens if you drop a water balloon from a height of 25 feet? Is there any way to prevent it from bursting? Your challenge is to design a way to land a water balloon, intact, from a second-story window or balcony (or as high as your space can safely allow!)
Build a Bridge
Put your engineering skills to the test by constructing sturdy bridges using just paper and aluminum foil. How many pennies can your bridge support?
Mechanical Hand
By designing and building a hand with fingers and a thumb that move like a real human hand, you’ll realize what a feat of engineering your own hands really are.
Puff Mobiles
Using straws, Lifesavers candies, paper, and tape, students build a car that moves as far as possible on a single breath of air!
Score!
In this challenge, you’ll use household materials to build a simple arcade game where players launch an object to earn points.
Wigglebot
Make a simple, fun robot that uses a DC motor to wiggle around on a piece of paper and create its own abstract art.