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Description

Cubs create a parachute to aid safe landing of a mini egg, and a zip wire to transport an egg across the room.

Resources

Parachute base Large plastic food bags from Waitrose; 30cm ruler
Cotton/thread x 2; Pipecleaners x 16; Boxes of mini-eggs x 4
Step-ladder
Zip-wire base Full reel of strong cotton/thread (not twine/string) x 4
Straws x 16 (just in case!); Balloons x 16; Pipecleaners x 16
Sellotape; chalk for marking the floor
Packets of mini-Creme Eggs x 4

Instructions

Cubs are challenged to rescue a box of mini-eggs that are trapped on the top of a high cliff (stepladder). Show what happens if one is dropped... Cubs are told they have to develop a way of getting the eggs safely down to the ground, without them cracking when they land, using the available materials. Note that the device(s) they come up with can be used multiple times to get multiple eggs down to the ground. The aim is to build a parachute, using a 30 x 30cm piece of plastic bag; this is tied by its corners to a ‘safety cage’ for the eggs, constructed from pipecleaners. The team has to get down as many eggs as possible in 20 mins.
Cubs are challenged to transport as many mini-Creme Eggs as possible across a raging river (drawn on floor in chalk – must be at least 2m wide). The eggs can’t be thrown from one side to the other, and mustn’t touch the ground in the ‘river’. Materials can be thrown from one side to the other, but once set up, the Cubs can’t jump back and forth. The aim is for the Cubs to build a zip wire, with the cotton held between two of them, threaded through a straw. On to the straw are attached 2 round balloons, sellotaped at either end of the straw, facing opposite directions (so the straw can be shuttled back and forth along the thread). As with the parachute game, a safety cage needs constructing from a couple of pipecleaners, and attaching to the straw. Eggs are then ferried one at a time by inflating one of the balloons, and holding the thread at a downwards angle (so gravity helps!) so the straw is blown along the thread to the other side of the river. The egg is unloaded, and the other balloon is inflated, the thread angled the other way, and the straw is sent back to the starting point. The team has to ferry across as many eggs as possible in 20 mins.

Tags

• teamwork

Badge Links

• Experiment - Experiment