Building Bridges

I had mentioned in an earlier post how much I love the Let's Try It Out series by Seymour Simon and Nicole Fauteux. These are great children's books that are written in a picture book format, but encourages the reader to do science experiments. There are three so far: Water (which we did earlier), Air, and Towers and Bridges. Today we decided to tackle the book on bridges.

Task #1: Build a structure out of blocks that will withstand wind.

Task #2: Build beam with a supportive base. They suggest straws, PlayDoh and tape. We used the tape and straws but added toothpicks and marshmallows instead of the PlayDoh

Task #3: Find out if it is easier to build a bridge to span a long distance or short, and then make a bridge that will support weight.

Shorter Distance is easier "A" found out

BUT it won't hold weight with a flat piece of paper

If we arch the paper though...

Folding the sides works too!

Accordion Folding a piece and then placing a flat one on top is sturdy as well.

This page shows it better what we did.

Building is so much fun we couldn't quit there:

Why don't we just make a whole city...

Phew.... I think we are all built out! Well, for now that is!

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