High Flying Solutions

Our High Flying Aircraft


If you missed it, be sure to see my introductory post for rules and more information!


Challenge: Your TASK is to create an aircraft that will fly as far as possible and land on a target.

5ft 4 in. ~ that's 10 points.

Time: You will have up to 6 minutes to use your IMAGINATION to create your aircraft and then up to 1 minute to launch your aircraft for score.

Set-up: On one end of the room is a taped line. Behind the line is a table with materials you may use to build your aircraft. There is also a stool behind the taped line from which you may launch your aircraft.

Materials:
  • 3 Pieces of Paper
  • 2 Rubber Bands
  • 2 Paper Clips
  • 2 Craft Sticks
  • 1 Piece of Foil
  • 1 Piece of String
  • 3 Mailing Labels
  • 1 Target

The first attempt

The launch on the 2nd attempt


Scoring:
A. 20 points if your aircraft lands on the target
B. 2 points for each foot (30 cm) your aircraft travels during Part Two.
C. Up to 30 points for how creatively your team uses the materials.
D. Up to 20 points for how well your team works together

Zero out of 20 points for not landing on the target.

20 points for the distance it traveled ~ not very creative though.

Trying again.


Now this is interesting.

I didn't get a good shot at him launching this, but he used the rubber band like a slingshot to launch the plane. It traveled quite nicely.

I was pretty proud of this effort (I made this one)

Well, if my post seems out of order and confusing, it is because we did this challenge 3 times! The boys had a hard time working together on this (zero points for working together). Each one wanted to do their own thing. I noticed that Dylan (the youngest) works well with both Nathan and Jordan, but Nathan and Jordan do not work well together (they both have strong personalities and they both want their own way).

During one round, they would not agree to a plan during their brainstorming session, and there was a bit of arguing. So, I set the timer and gave them each 30 seconds to give their idea and during the last 30 seconds they were to come to an agreement. I was so proud of Dylan because during his turn, rather than telling what he thought should happen, he asked questions to get them thinking about what would be best.

Also, I wasn't sure how to score the first attempt ~ we came up with 50 points originally, but then I realized that they were only allowed one launch to score points, so we deducted the points for landing on the target, since they didn't get it in the first launch.

All in all, I think this was more of a challenge for them to work together. The challenges offer not only a good learning experience in creative problem solving, but most importantly ~ teamwork, and we could use a little more of that around here.

Are you joining us this week?


Of course, Mali wanted to participate too. *Ü*

Next Challenge: Leaning Tower

3 comments

  1. They did great! I can imagine it is hard to get all 3 to come to consensus sometimes:) I like the rubber band idea. We are so behind. Nick's doing his this am. I need to keep quiet and not give hints! Sometimes, I think the best part of this is when the timer is done and they sit around and try to figure out what they could've done better--

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  2. I was able to see this first-hand at how well my sons cooperated with each other. We did this on Yom Reshon (Hebrew date for the
    1st day of the week-Sunday)and I thought it was great to give pointers to the boys about how to handle other's ideas. First of all, the challenge looked awesome and so with the level of excitement about building a plane definitely showed. I did mention to my boys the necessity of a "leader" putting into perspective the mission or scope of the project. Then, I told them that after they mentioned what they were supposed to do that they then ask questions of each other to identify the best course of action. Finally, a deliberate plan of attack is made based upon delegating parts of the mission out to those best suited to the job. This seemed to work a little bit better after a while and Dylan especially caught on.
    This is without-a-doubt a 5 out of 5 star event and I encourage your kids to try this challenge.

    -Luke

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  3. Sorry we missed this week Chel - this one would have been great! I love the photo's of all the children! Great Job! Thank you for hosting this even if we don't make each one - this has been a blessing to us!

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