The Challenge

Your challenge is to build a structure from inside square 1 into square 2

Time: 7 minutes total

• 2 minutes to discuss how you’ll build your structure without touching the materials
• 5 minutes to build a structure that spans two squares

The Challenge

• On the floor you will see two 6-inch squares taped off with a distance of 5 inches between the squares. Your challenge is to build a structure as tall as possible that spans between the two squares and doesn’t touch the space between the squares.
• You will have 2 minutes to discuss how you’ll build your structure. During the two minutes you will not touch the materials.
• You will have 5 minutes to build your structure. In order to receive a score, the structure must be in both squares simultaneously and not touch outside the squares.

Materials

• 25 Mini Marshmallows
• 25 pieces of dry spaghetti noodles

Scoring:

• 20 points if your structure doesn’t touch the space between the squares
• 20 points if your structure is in both squares simultaneously but not touching outside the squares at any point
• 20 points for the creativity of your structure
• 20 points for how well you worked together
• 5 points for every inch of height up to 100 points (measured from the center of the space between the squares straight up.)

Do Ahead of Time

Collect the following materials:

• 25 Mini Marshmallows
• 25 pieces of dry spaghetti noodles

Set-up

On a level, hard surface floor tape two 6-inch squares leaving 5 inches between the two squares.

Debrief:

After you have finished the challenge discuss the following:

• How hard was it to talk about the materials without be able to touch them?
• How did you best use your materials? What would you have done differently?
• What was the hardest part of building your structure?
• Did it span the space?
• Were you able to get the height you wanted?
• Did you finish building in time?
• Did you work well together?

Follow Up:

1. Using the same materials, repeat the challenge after the debriefed. This gives them the opportunity to apply any corrections discussed during the debrief time.
2. Do the challenge again using different materials. (examples: gumdrops and small bamboo skewers, mini Snickers bars and lasagna noodles)