When I was a kid, we had a book about this egg drop engineering project, and ever since then, I have wanted to try it. We live on the third floor, so we have quite a long drop from our balcony, which is perfect for this experiment.
If you don’t live in an apartment or have a second story, you might be able to test your eggs by tossing them off your roof. The egg drop challenge is one of our favorite STEM activities for kids!
We’ve also tried a turkey egg drop that was tons of fun!
The egg drop engineering challenge is one of our favorite engineering activities!
You’ll also want to check out the ultimate list of summer STEM activities and the ultimate list of summer science experiments.
This post is part of the 31 days of STEM activities for kids series. Find the other posts here! This week, we are focusing on engineering activities for kids, the “E” in STEM.
How to Do the Egg Drop Engineering Project
The goal of this project is to create a container that will safely deposit a raw egg onto the ground when it is dropped from something high.
Egg Drop STEM Challenge Ideas
Let kids be as creative in their designs as they want. You might want to include some design challenges like they must use a cardboard box, their design must fly, or they have to use sponges.
You could also require that the designs be a certain size, such as under 10 inches.
Make your egg drop have a theme, like in our turkey egg drop!
Another fun twist is to try dropping the eggs from different heights. The egg padding that withstands the most tumbling is the winner!
The Science Behind the Egg Drop Challenge
I love the egg drop engineering project because it involves creativity mixed with a bit of physics.
The force of the fall and the impact breaks the egg. But with enough design adaptations, you can prevent an egg from breaking at almost any speed!
There are probably hundreds of designs that will keep the egg safe.
With a group of children, it would be fun to see what differing designs could be successful in keeping the eggs from breaking.
The more types of designs tested the better!
What You Need for Egg Drop Designs
You’ll need these supplies for the egg drop engineering challenge.
Supplies:
- Raw eggs (buy some cheap ones so you can make multiple attempts)
- Various containers and padding
- We used bubble wrap, cotton balls, plastic trash bags, plastic food containers, string, tape, plastic bags, and egg crates
How to Make an Egg Drop Project
Follow these steps to make your own egg drop STEM challenge!
Idea 1: How to prevent an egg from breaking when dropped with straws
In this version, I challenged the kids to create a cage for their egg out of straws.
It was a pretty good design!
Even though we only dropped it from the second story, I bet the design would have held up from even higher up.
Idea 2: How to prevent an egg from breaking when dropped
Monkey thought she could create a little nest for the egg like in a hot air balloon. She used the trash bag as the balloon and placed the egg in a plastic ice cream dish.
She padded the bottom of the egg, but not the sides.
When we dropped the egg, it fell onto its side and exploded.
Idea 3: Balloon egg drop design
Monkey expanded on the hot air balloon design, but this time, she made the container holding the egg larger.
She padded the egg in several layers of padding, including a plastic bag blown up to create an air pocket. She taped the container to the trash bag balloon.
When we dropped this package, it still fell pretty heavily (I’m not sure the balloon part was necessary), but the padding prevented the egg from breaking.
If you do the egg drop engineering project, share your results with us! We would love to see your creations!
