With our athletes away competing at the Indoor Athletics Games in Wigan, our remaining Prep VI students faced a very different challenge back in the classroom. Armed with only a pair of scissors, dried spaghetti and marshmallows, the children were split into groups of three and tasked with building the tallest and strongest tower possible.
The ultimate “strength test” was whether their structure could support up to three of Mr Suter’s Jaffa Cake snack packs! After plenty of discussion and problem-solving, a variety of creative designs began to take shape. Sylvia, Hallie and Carter used Carter’s building expertise, prioritising strength and functionality over height. Elijah and Casey opted for a marshmallow-heavy approach, while Ibrahim, Harriet and Benjamin took a more measured route—during their build, the phrase “centre of gravity” was even heard! Carly, Ariya and Amna embraced a bold strategy of sticking together as much as possible… and as enthusiastically as possible.
The testing stage was met with great excitement, and all teams successfully managed to hold at least one Jaffa Cake pack without collapsing. Ibrahim’s group also achieved the tallest tower of the day.
A fantastic STEM challenge that encouraged teamwork, creativity and critical thinking—well done to all (not least in their restraint – not a single marshmallow was eaten in the process! Well, maybe Mr. Suter might have sneakily munched on one or two…)
Thursday was very fun and I’m sure everyone there enjoyed it. It was hard to figure out the right structure and then making it and I’m sure everyone who made it did great. The team who won really deserved it for their great tower.
Amna
I thought that Thursday’s great Jaffa cake test was so fun and Harriet’s,Ben’s and Ibrahims’ tower deserved to win.Mine,Hallie’s and Carter’s was good for strength as it held all 3 Jaffa cakes !But everyone did amazing.
I really enjoyed this activity as it was very challenging and you constantly had to think of different ways to improve your structure. I also enjoyed the judging because we had to see how many Jaffa cakes we could balance on top of the structures.
harriet
You looked a bit nervous in the photo when yours was being tested!
I found this activity very enjoyable and I think Ariya, Amna and I built an amazing structure. Did we use too much spaghetti? …. IMPASTABLE! 🙂
I also think that Ben’s group did a great job and deserved to win.
From Carly
Prep VI
That’s nearly as bad as some of my jokes Carly! We may have gone a bit pasta the limit with the spaghetti, but it was all part of building something impastably great
Mr. Suter I think you’re acting a little fusilli now! 🙂
Ha!
I really enjoyed building the towers. I think it was one of the best ‘hands on’ experience ever. It was very interesting and interactive because you had to use your brain to think up a plan and then build it but I think it was very hard to stick to the plan that you would of thought off. Overall, I think that this experience was very helpful and good.
Elijah Griffiths Prep 6
And you showed great restraint in not eating any!