Featured Engineering Activities

Modern societies take water for granted—turn on the faucet and clean water pours out! But ancient civilizations had to engineer a way to bring water into their cities and homes from faraway water sources. That technology is still being used today. In this challenge, students use household materials to build an aqueduct that can transport water from one location to another.

Making toast seems simple enough. However, when students are asked to draw out the process, it becomes a digestible way to introduce the steps of the engineering design process.

Have you ever seen an overly complex, whimsical machine designed to perform a simple task? If so, it may have been inspired by Rube Goldberg—an engineer, inventor, and cartoonist. In this challenge, students use household materials to build a simple chain-reaction machine.

Put your engineering skills to the test by constructing sturdy bridges using just paper and aluminum foil. How many pennies can your bridge support?

Students create a mechanical hand that mimics the bending and straightening of their own fingers and thumb.