Challenge and Discover – Bridge Building

Welcome to a new feature on Science Sparks, in collaboration with Inspiration Laboratories and The Imagination Tree. Each month we will set a challenge for you to try, and host a linky so we can see what you make. If you don’t have a blog and would like to join in you could upload an image to one of our Facebook pages. The theme for this month is bridge building.

First we explored how shape can be 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 if he added extra supports the bridge was 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.

We also did a great hangout with Red Ted Art which you can read here, all about strength of materials, which might give you even more inspiration. Please also check out Anna and Trisha’s posts as well.

Things to think about:

Support – can you make your bridge stronger using more supports?

Shape – think about how the dome shape allows egg shells 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 could you change it to make it hold more?

Please link up posts that showcase bridges you and your children built. Your bridge must hold at least 1 kg (a little over 2 lbs) and must be constructed of at least one item from the recycling bin. By linking up, you are giving us permission to grab one picture and feature your projects on our blogs and social media sites. There is a badge in the sidebar if you would like to use it.