Welcome to a new feature on Science Sparks, in collaboration with Inspiration Laboratories and The Imagination Tree. Each month we’ll set a challenge for you to try and then share the results with us!
First, we explored how the shape of a building is important for strength. These brittle egg shells are actually quite strong due to the dome shape.
My 6-year-old experimented with DUPLO. He found that adding extra supports made the bridge more stable.
We then tried one with just materials from the recycling bin. This fell over with two legs but held the 1kg weight with three.
Things to think about:
Support – Can you make your bridge stronger by using more support?
Shape – think about how the dome shape allows eggshells to hold a lot of weight.
Materials – what materials are you using? Are they strong? How can you make them stronger?
Other ideas
What is the heaviest weight your bridge can hold? How can you change it to hold more?
Last Updated on February 23, 2025 by Emma Vanstone
Trisha @ Inspiration Laboratories
I love how you made several different bridge designs!
Jacquie@KCEdventures
Loving this!! We recently created a working drawbridge on a huge cardboard castle my daughter built. I really love this new challenge – can’t wait to see more 🙂
ScienceSparks
Thanks Jacquie, thats lovely to know. 🙂
Carrie
Oh, what a fun activity/challenge. When I taught geometry we explored strength of bridges due to shape. Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!!
Susan Mann
Love the different designs and so much fun x
ScienceSparks
Thank you 🙂
Denisha
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