Christmas Science – Raft For The Reindeer

Are you ready for today’s Christmas STEM Challenge?

Oh no! Comet has lost Santa and needs to cross a river to get to him. Can you build Comet a raft to help?

This activity can be split into several stages.

• Design your rafts – which materials do you think will work best?

• Build your rafts – do you need to change your design?

• Test your rafts to see if they sink or float.

• Can your raft support the weight of your reindeer?

MY LATEST VIDEOS

Materials

Lolly sticks

Kitchen sponge

Corks

Glue/Double sided tape

Paper

Kitchen roll

Toy Reindeer, we used our DUPLO Reindeer

Instructions

Build and test your rafts. To make the investigation a fair test you should use the same toy reindeer and if possible the same sized rafts.

Extension Activities

Can you make a table to record your results? Can you try to predict which raft will sink and which will float before testing?

Use a straw to blow the rafts across a calm surface of water, what happens when you blow gently and then with more force? Does the raft move faster if you blow the air close to the raft or from further away.

More Christmas STEM

What’s the best material for a paper chain?

Make a Christmas Optical Illusion

Or try one of these amazing Christmas Science Experiments!