Who Can Fly The Most Cargo?

Paper airplanes are fun on their own, but we are going to take the paper airplane one step further this week and ask you to build a paper airplane that can carry cargo!

For this challenge, your paper airplane must be able to carry the cargo for at least 10 feet. You can use any type of cargo you like, but we found that taping coins to the paper airplane works best.

Are you up for the challenge? How much cargo do you think your paper airplane can hold?

What you need...

• Who Can Fly The Most Cargo? - Creator Sheet
• Construction Paper
• Tape
• Coins
• Measuring Tape

What you need to do...

• Start by breaking students up into groups of three or solo if distance/virtual learning.
• Have students create a team name.
• Draw a starting line then measure ten feet and make a passing line.
• Students need to pass the ten-foot line to be meet the challenge.
• Have students start by brainstorming how they are going to create their plane to carry the most cargo. 
• Next, have students start to plan and draw their design.
• Give each student a piece of paper and have them each create their paper airplane.
• Give each student the same amount of coins and have them tape them onto their paper airplane however they see fit.
• Time to test! Have each student start at the line and see if their airplane can make it to the passing line with its cargo.
• Give the students that passed more coins and have them again tape their coins to their paper airplane and test them again.
• Repeat this process until you have a student who could fly the most money across the passing line. They are the winner!
• Finish by having students reflect on their experience.

We would love to see you try this STEM Challenge. Share your results with us through social media!

Happy Making,

Maker Maven