Thanksgiving Turkey Nest Challenge
Students will practice the Engineering Design Process with this hands-on STEM challenge building a turkey nest to safely catch a falling egg. A fun twist on the classic egg-drop challenge, this activity is an exciting way to foster critical thinking and team-building skills!
Grades: 3rd - 9th
Teaching Duration: 2 days
“Used this during Thanksgiving week it was cool to see how creative the students got. Thank you. Your resources are awesome.”
lesson overview
Thanksgiving Turkey Nest STEM Challenge
Students will practice the Engineering Design Process with this hands-on STEM challenge building a turkey nest to safely catch a falling egg. A fun twist on the classic egg-drop challenge, this activity is an exciting way to foster critical thinking and team-building skills!
An included bonus activity adds an additional theoretical design challenge and writing topic. Students must brainstorm and design a device to protect the newly laid turkey eggs from predators.
As a student-driven assignment, the purpose of the teacher is to act as a facilitator. You will provide the structure to the project, but students will take an active role in designing and building their nests in their teams. Complete teacher instructions and student handouts make this project simple to incorporate STEM into your classroom or program.
This packet includes:
Detailed teachers guide with links to resources
Editable teacher instruction slides
Student handouts to guide them through the engineering design process
Student recording sheets for each step of the process
Predator Protection bonus design and writing activity
Project reflection questions
Math connection problems including graphing, ratios/ fractions, measurements, perimeter, and area (applicable sheets in both customary and metric units).
Looking for more STEM lessons? Find the Vivify resource guide here: bit.ly/VivifyResourceGuide
