Summer Stem Challenge {Foil Boats}

 We are one week into summer and I am loving it.  I have stayed up way too late, slept in, read books, watched tv, and enjoying my kids.  I have high hopes that this just might be the best summer yet.  So, sweet mom friends who still have littles running around you in circles, I promise that in just a few short years, you will hit a sweet spot.

Last year, we spent the summer conquering Pinterest Pins each week!  Some of them were science related, others, just fun.  We had so much fun that we decided to challenge ourselves to a Summer of Stem activities.  Each week, we will do some sort of STEM activity and then I will blog about it.  I will share what we did, how we did it, what I would change. We did our first challenge this week, and it is was so much fun getting a little wet in the process. 

This week, we took advantage of the cool of the morning on one of our hottest days this week, and brought out the baby pool and picked a STEM activity that would result in getting a little wet.  Nothing like a little science and engineering in the water to start out day and cool off!  Weston even gave his boat a little pirate he had made from his quixels the day before. 

All you need is some aluminum foil, some pennies, water, and maybe you're own pirate.  Have your kids crunch up a a couple pieces of foil and shape into the boat of their liking.  Ethan's resembled a bowl and Weston's was more rectangular in shape. 

 Test to see if they float.  We didn't have any problems with them floating the first time, but if your's don't float, they might need to be lighter, so fewer pieces of foil or the shape might need some change.  But, foil is pretty light, so I don't think this will be a problem. 

 Have the kids slowly start adding coins until they float.  I just grabbed our penny jar, which was a hodge podge of coins and maybe a few medals from my high school cross country days may have surfaced.  The kids thought that was super cool. 

 Keep filling it up until they sink. 

 Then take it out, and count out the coins.  We put ours on a paper towel covered paper plate so they could dry quicker.  Both boys boats were super strong and held over a hundred coins each.  I should have had them try building a weaker boat so they could compare, but that's something I just thought of as I was typing.

Then get into the water and cool off!  Even I sunk my toes into the cool water.  Plus, these smiles get me all the time! I just want to enjoy every minute of it over the summer!

Want to join us this summer?  Pick a STEM activity to try at home or try out the ones we do.  Take a little picture and post it to Instagram using the hashtag #OOTRBsummerstemchallenge.  I can't wait to see what you all come up with!   

If you want to see what Pinterest activities we did last summer.  Click here to the link that has them all.