Fall Engineering Activities and Challenges for Upper Elementary

Engineering activities are the perfect supplement to any curriculum. They build creative thinking, allow students to explore in safe spaces, teach teamwork, and so much more! However, I know that finding the time to fit STEM or engineering activities into your already packed schedule can be difficult.

For this reason, I like to use holidays and seasonal times of the year to sneak as much engineering and STEM as I can into my instruction. In this post, I share two Fall engineering activities (with free printables!) that are great for upper elementary classrooms. Note: The materials are crazy affordable and many can be brought in by your students.

Fall Engineering Activity #1: Build a Tower with Toothpicks

This engineering challenge has the added appeal of edible materials, meaning your students can enjoy the treats (or a select amount set aside by you) after the tower is complete.

Materials needed for this engineering activity:

• apples
• candy pumpkins
• candy corn
• popcorn
• mini marshmallows
• toothpicks

The students will follow these steps (these directions are included in the printables):

1.) Examine the materials that will be used to connect the toothpicks.

2.) Write down predictions: Which materials do you think will support a toothpick structure the best? The least?

3.) Draft or write a plan for their towers.

4.) Create their towers.

5.) Reflect on the experience by answering these questions:

Did you find that any material made a poor building material? Explain why.
What item was the most fun to use? Why?
Did you find it easy or difficult to include the nature items in your structure? Explain.
What was the final measurement of your structure? How far over or under where you from your goal of 10 inches?

There is also an extension activity you can do after the initial challenge to have the students apply what they learned from this activity. For the extension activity, the students build another tower, this time alternating the levels with different connector materials. A directions page for this extension activity is also included in the free download (at the end of this post).

This activity is perfect for making predictions, testing those predictions, and then reflecting on them. The students will also be learning about the physical properties of the materials and how those properties help or hinder the construction.

Fall Engineering Activity #2: Build the Highest Structure with Fall/Nature Items

This activity is similar to the first activity in that that the students will be constructing the highest structure they can. However, this activity takes a bit more engineering and creativity with the materials. The materials being used in are also quite unconventional (and some not even practical). Because of this, the unique possibilities for what your students will produce are endless. The focus of this activity is more on the measuring and creative use of materials.

Materials needed for this engineering activity:

• fall nature items (such as leaves, acorns, sticks, and pinecones)
• pipe cleaners
• craft or popsicle sticks
• a base, such as a Styrofoam cube or a ball of clay

The students will follow these steps or directions (these directions are included in the printables):

1.) Gather the materials.

2.) Examine the materials. Decide what to use to begin the structure with.

3.) Use the craft sticks and pipe cleaners to provide necessary support and the fall nature items for decoration and added height.

4.) Must incorporate one of every type of nature item in the structure.

5.) Use a ruler to keep track of the height of the structure.

6.) Answer these reflection questions when finished:

Did you find that any material made a poor building material? Explain why.
What item was the most fun to use? Why?
Did you find it easy or difficult to include the nature items in your structure? Explain.
What was the final measurement of your structure? How far over or under where you from your goal of 10 inches?