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Project challenge:

crush it: moon base

Suggested Ages: K – 2nd Grades

It’s the year 2030 and NASA needs you to design a moon base, but can you build it strong enough to protect the astronauts from meteorites? Use just paper and tape to make your moon base, then BE COURAGEOUS as you test the strength of your design in a destructive crush test!

Engaging Design-It-Yourself projects to inspire young innovators

This is no ordinary DIY project for kids: It’s a step toward becoming an innovator.

 

Every Galileo Design-It-Yourself Challenge teaches the same techniques and mindsets that professional designers an engineers, artists and chefs use in their work. With skills like these, we believe you can change the world.

Get Involved—For Grown Ups

Materials list:

Help your child find these materials or a close substitute: 

 

  • Paper
  • Piece of corrugated cardboard
  • Marker
  • Tape
  • Scissors
  • A small, heavy object for dropping onto the moon base (can of food, 12oz bottle of water, etc.)
  • A small cardboard box for holding testing weight
  • Lightweight material for keeping the weight in place (bubble wrap, a light jacket, brown packing paper, etc.)

 

Activity GUIDE:

Refer to these steps to keep young innovators on track as they create:

 

PREP SUPPORT:

  • Make a long paper tube template (2:25) and a weighted cardboard box for testing. (3:31)

 

ACTIVITY DETAILS:

1.  Create a paper astronaut.

 

2.  Make at least 5 tubes of paper—Give kids prepped the tube template to make this easy.

 

3.  Build the moon base structure—Ask: What parts are wobbling? How can you make that stronger?

 

4.  Test by dropping the weighted box onto the structure—If needed, help kids with the testing process. (3:58)

 

5.  Evaluate if the astronaut is safe. (Not crumpled.)

 

6.  If successful, test again until the astronaut gets crushed.

  • Capture epic slo-mo videos for sharing.
  • Support being courageous—If kids are reluctant to put their moon base in harm’s way, emphasize that testing their design to the limit will help them build the strongest structure possible.

 

7.  Redesign—Ask: What part broke? What strong shapes might you add? What if you tried adding triangles?

 

More Ideas:

Every project presents opportunities to add your own twists or extensions. Here are some ideas to get you started: 

 

  • Step up the challenge! Use materials other than paper to build a super-strong moon base, then test it with a meteor that’s dropped from as high as possible!
  • If the moon base is still standing, embellish it with space-age equipment like a moon buggy, antennae, and some more astronaut friends!

 

Wrap Up Questions:

Lock in the learning by asking kids these questions about their project and how they practiced the featured Innovator’s Mindset element: 

 

  • Was there a time in this activity when you felt nervous and had to be courageous? If so, when?
  • What did you discover when your moon base got crushed? Do you think you could have discovered that if you didn’t put your base to the test?
  • Which design worked best? Why do you think the way you built that moon base made it stronger than your other ones?

SHARE!

The last step in the Gallieo Innovator’s Process is SHARE. Great learning can come from sharing successes and failures—to solidify your own experience as an innovator and to inspire others.

 

SHARE WITH galileo

 

Take a stellar slow-mo video and share it with the Camp Galileo Anywhere Facebook Community.

 

Share with family and friends

 

Your innovation doesn’t stop with you. Inspire someone else by sharing your project challenge—maybe they’ll try it themselves or maybe your project will give them a new idea.

 

  • Who: someone in your house, a family member, a friend
  • How: in person, on the phone, online
  • When: anytime, starting now!