Back to Schedule

Project challenge:

jumping frog

Suggested Ages: K – 5th Grades

Jump into action with this easy-to-build project that can propel itself 3ft into the air! Add and adjust small weights to make your frog do flips, jump up onto a box, or even land upright!

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: 

 

  • Corrugated cardboard from a shipping box
  • Two rubber bands, 1/8×3.5” or similar
  • Masking tape or duct tape (clear tape won’t work)
  • Scissors
  • Pennies or other small coins
  • Coloring tools, like markers or crayons

 

Activity GUIDE:

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

 

PREP SUPPORT

Cut the cardboard into two 5” x 5” pieces.

 

1. Tape the two cardboard pieces together—Make sure the cardboard corrugations line up (01:45).

 

2. Tape on one or two rubber bands.

 

3. (Optional) Draw a frog face!

 

4. Try challenge #1: Tape on pennies to try to make the frog do flips (2:57).

  • Support being reflective—If kids are having a hard time making meaningful redesigns, help them verbalize what they see each time they test (“It flipped more/less” “It tilted sideways” etc.)
  • Ask: How did changing the weight change the way it jumped?
  • Ask: Where will you try to put the pennies next?

 

5. Try challenge #2: Adjust pennies to make the frog jump up onto a box (3:40).

 

6. Try the bonus challenge: Make the frog land on its feet!

 

More Ideas:

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

 

  • Innovate On!—See how many jumps it takes for your frog to travel from one side of the room to the other. How can you redesign the weight to make the distance in fewer jumps?
  • Play the game Catch the Frog! Have the frog leap into the air and try to catch it in your hands.
    • If that’s difficult, try catching it in a basket or box instead.

 

Wrap Up Questions:

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

 

  • How did you make the frog jump in different ways?
  • How were you reflective as you designed? What did you notice and discover? Did you notice anything that surprised you?
  • What other jumping things might you create now that you know how to make this kind of contraption?

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

 

Share a photo or video of your creation 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!