Easy Parachute STEM Challenge

Put your engineering skills to the test with a parachute STEM Challenge. Your challenge is to design and build a parachute to slow the fall of a small toy to the ground.

This activity is great for learning about the forces involved in flight. You'll need to consider air resistance, gravity and the properties of the materials used to make the parachute.

Mini Parachute STEM Challenge

Before starting this activity, one thing to think about is the shape of a parachute. Parachutes often have dome-shaped, rectangular or rounder chutes.

You'll need

Plastic/paper bag, paper, fabric or other material for the parachute
A small toy
String or something else to fasten the toy to the parachute
Timer

Parachute Instructions

Design and build your parachute. What do you need to think about? Will a larger parachute work better than a smaller parachute?
Record the time it takes for the small toy to drop to the ground without a parachute ( make sure it has a soft landing ). The parachute will need to be dropped from the same height later.
Be very careful dropping the parachute if you stand somewhere high up and if you're the person underneath.

Activity needs adult supervision

Small girl wearing a lab coat and safety goggles

Our first parachute was made with wrapping paper with the small toy attached with small elastic bands.

Parachute made with paper for a STEM Challenge

Our second parachute was made with a plastic carrier bag. This was much lighter.

parachute made with a plastic bag for a STEM Challenge

Parachute STEM Challenge Design Sheet

What's happening?

If you dropped a piece of paper and a small toy, the paper would fall to the floor more slowly than the toy. This is because the paper has a larger surface area, meaning it has more air resistance acting on it, slowing the fall.

We found that the parachute slowed the fall of our toy, this is because the parachute has a large surface area and so the air resistance acting on it is greater than for just the LEGO man by himself.

The infamous hammer and feather drop

If a hammer and a feather were dropped from the same height at the same time, you'd expect the hammer to fall the fastest, as there's more air resistance acting on the feather.

If you did the same thing on the moon where there's no air, the hammer and feather would hit the ground at the same time, as the only force acting on them would be gravity, which would be the same for both.

Diagram showing the forces acting on a parachute

Parachute STEM Challenge Extension Ideas

Does a larger parachute fall more slowly than a smaller parachute?

To carry out this investigation test two or three different sized parachutes and record how long each takes to reach the ground from the same height.

Remember, to make this a fair test, the only thing that should change is the parachute size. The toy, material and height the parachute is dropped from should be the same.