Homeschool Creations

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Instant Challenge: Build a Bridge

Photobucket

We joined along this week in the Instant Challenge hosted by Michelle @ Delightful Learning. "Up for a Challenge?" is a weekly meme designed to get students involved in critical thinking and creative problem solving by doing an Instant Challenge. Our kids were so excited when I showed them the projects we were going to work on together. The plan was for Rick to work on them with us….but Mommy got a little carried away and did the first one solo with the kids.

Even though the second challenge has already been posted, we started with the first one: Bridge Builders. The project was set up on the dining room table and overall was a pretty big success ~ the biggest challenge was keeping everyone focused on the task at hand and soothing the rioting crowds {and trying to let the kids solve the problem without adding in my 2 cents…}.

DSC07521

Laurianna actually did the majority of the bridge building on her own, since McKenna didn’t want to work as a team {which frustrated Laurianna to no end}. McKenna got a birthday phone call in the middle of the challenge, so Laurianna did the bulk of the building on her own.

DSC07528 The cards that made up the two pillars of the bridge were cut with scissors and wedged to fit together. Here’s the finished product:

DSC07523 The big question was: Would it support the weight of the nails??

DSC07527 We started counting up {getting nervous the more nails we added} ~ and guess what? We made it up to all TEN NAILS!!! YEAH!!!

Our Score {according to Mommy}:

  • 10/10 points for having a completed bridge at the end of Part One.
  • 50/50 points for being able to support the weight of all 10 nails {5 points per nail}
  • 10/20 points for creativity ~ it wasn’t super creative, but it did get the job done!
  • 5/20 points for teamwork {when McKenna was helping out} but I gave Laurianna a 20/20 because really she did it on her own

Overall score: 90/100 for Laurianna doing the project independently. 75/100 if we count it as a joint effort.

This was a great first project for us and we have the supplies on hand to work on the next challenge: Boat Race! If you are interested in being a part of the Instant Challenges, you can find out more here.

Photobucket

Labels:

4 Comments:

  • Great job Laurianna! I am really amazed by what the little ones are able to come up with. I can imagine that it could get really busy with 4 creating! Happy Birthday wishes to McKenna:)

    By Anonymous Heather, At November 12, 2009 at 12:41 PM  

  • We have teamwork issues in our house, too (try video taping her for the world to see, lol, it works). Tell Laurianna she did a great job ~ I thought her bridge was very creative and I am impressed that she had a bridge at the end of part one - that wasn't easy!

    Happy birthday to McKenna and thanks for participating! *Ü*

    By Blogger Michelle Gibson, At November 12, 2009 at 1:49 PM  

  • Great job. I've been following these and waiting for some younger ones to join in as I have been considering it for my kids. Thanks for sharing.

    By Blogger Kylie, At November 12, 2009 at 4:36 PM  

  • I stumbled here looking because I googled "homeschool workboxes", and just had to comment that your daughters are seriously beautiful.
    That's all.

    Leta

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At November 12, 2009 at 10:32 PM  

Post a Comment

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you have a question and would like a reply, feel free to ask. I do my best to reply personally to you, but please be sure that there is an email linked to your comment or your profile! :)

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]



<< Home