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Stop the Stretching
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Learners work with plastic sheeting, masking tape, and string to design the perfect material for plastic chair webbing, and then construct their webbing.

Clipper Creations
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In this activity, learners create a working model of a nail clipper. This activity helps learners learn the basic principles of simple machines, engineering design and model building.

Jam Jar Jet
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In this activity, learners create a "Jam Jar Jet" based on Francois Reynst's discovery of a pulsejet engine, which uses one opening for both air intake and exhaust.

Building Tall
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In this engineering activity (page 2 of PDF), young learners investigate how a wide base can make a building more stable. Learners use blocks or boxes of different sizes to construct stable towers.

Low-Tech Water Filter for High-Impact Clean
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In this activity, learners consider the water features they might enjoy at a community park--a pond, brook, water playground (or "sprayground"), or pool--and what happens to the water over time.

Four Corners
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In this design challenge activity, learners build a machine out of cardboard that runs smoothly and dependably. Learners must be precise to make sure their component works properly.

Deep Sea Diver
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In this ocean engineering activity, learners explore buoyancy and water displacement. Then, learners design models of deep sea divers that are neutrally buoyant.

Mechanical Grabber
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In this engineering activity, challenge learners to make a "grabber" that can pick up trash. Learners use simple materials to create pinchers that can grab small items.

Gumdrop Dome
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In this engineering activity, learners construct sturdy geodesic structures out of gumdrops and toothpicks. Use this activity to explore engineering principles as well as sturdy shapes and triangles.

On Target
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In this design challenge activity, learners modify a cup so it can carry a marble down a zip line and also drop it onto a target.

Smooth Operator
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In this activity, learners explore surgical instrument design. Teams of learners construct surgical instruments from everyday materials.

Puppet Power
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In this mechanical engineering activity, learners design shadow puppets with moving parts and use them to tell stories.

As Straight as a Pole
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In this engineering activity (page 3 of PDF), young learners investigate how a pole can be made stable by “planting” its base in the ground or adding supports to the base.

Designing a Wall
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In this engineering activity (page 5 of PDF), young learners investigate how materials and design contribute to the strength of a structure, particularly walls.

Jet Propulsion
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In this two-part activity, learners work in pairs to examine the four basic stages of a turbine engine.

Filtration Investigation
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In this activity, learners explore how engineering has developed various means to remove impurities from water.

Levers at Play
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In this activity, learners consider how a simple machine, a lever, turns a small push or pull (a small force) into a larger--or stronger--push or pull (a larger force).

Twirling in the Breeze
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In this engineering activity, learners build a device (an anemometer) to measure how fast the wind is blowing.

Crank It Up
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In this engineering activity, learners explore simple machines and then build cardboard automata using cams.

Water Filter
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In this engineering activity, challenge learners to invent a water filter that cleans dirty water.