Humpty Dumpty Themed Egg Drop STEM Project

Looking for fun STEM activities to incorporate into your homeschool routine? I love this super simple, fun Humpty Dumpty Themed Egg Drop STEM project for your preschool and elementary age kids! It’s an excellent way to incorporate creativity and problem solving into the skills you’re teaching your kids!

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Egg Drop STEM Project Overview

It’s simple – build something protective that will keep Humpty Dumpty from breaking during his fall! You can decide on exactly what parameters you want to set for your kids, and how far of a fall Humpty Dumpty will be taking.

Egg Drop STEM Project: Supplies

1.Eggs

We used plain ol’ uncooked eggs. (Full disclosure: I can’t take credit for the adorable faces… or pretty much the entire idea for this activity… That would be my friend Sarah. You can follow her @little.lights.homeschool on Instagram – she has the best homeschool ideas! Posting all of this with her permission, though!)

2. Random supplies that you find from inside your house.

I pulled a bunch of random materials out of our supply closet and told them to figure out something to keep their raw egg from breaking if they dropped him off the top of the playground.

Pro Tip: Depending on your child’s design, you may find it helpful to put your test eggs inside a plastic ziplock baggie… It took us several egg casualties on our dining room floor before I finally got smart about that one.

3. Picture Books

You can make this as complex or as simple as you want to, depending on the ages and levels of your kids. Throughout the week we read the following picture books and tied the content back into the activity:

Gravity is a Mystery by Franklyn M. Branley

Energy Makes Things Happen by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Forces Make Things Move by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

And Everyone Shouted, “Pull!” A First Look at Forces and Motion by Claire Llewellyn

Picture Books - Energy, Gravity, and Force

It’s also fun to have some books about the Humpty Dumpty story on hand. Some cute ones include:

After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again

Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty

Egg Drop STEM Project Step 1: Build an egg saver.

My kids are 3 and 5 years old, so I didn’t really give any “rules” of strategies they could or couldn’t use.

My 5 year old decided to try making a parachute and skis.

The hardest part was not intervening and taking over to give him an idea that would “win.” I wanted him to own this project. So I let him make the skis and parachute.

Let me tell you – he worked so hard and long to fashion it just right… that practice at expanding his attention span alone was worth doing this activity!

My 3 year old decided to put a box full of blankets and towels down to cushion the landing. If my kids were older, I probably would have made that strategy agains the rules, but since they were so young and my daughter came up with that idea herself, I decided to let it fly.

After a while, my 3 year old also decided to fill a wide mouthed baby bottle with cooked spaghetti to protect her egg during the fall (not a material I had pulled out, and I’m really not sure where she came up with that idea). I figured that was pretty creative, so I helped her cook some pasta and fill the baby bottle.

Egg Drop STEM Project Step 2: Test your egg savers.

We tested these from the top of a local playground; however, I did this activity when I was in elementary school and I remember dropping my egg off the second floor balcony of our school building. Of course, you can adjust this based on what is available to you and the ages of your children.

Surprisingly enough, my son’s bare egg with a parachute didn’t break, but only because he dropped it over his sister’s box of blankets. I think that one was just luck.

Some other ideas that we observed that worked: dropping an egg that was sealed inside a gallon sized freezer bag full of water, dropping an egg that was surrounded by inflated balloons that were taped together, and dropping an egg that was packaged inside a shoebox with padding.

Egg Drop STEM Project Step 3: Discuss your results.

Make sure to take some time to debrief afterwards. What worked? What didn’t work? What might they want to try differently if they did it again? Would they like to try it again?

I love how simple this activity is, and how much opportunity for exploration, problem solving, and creativity it provides! Try it and see!

Before you go…

Need some screen free, productive activities to suggest to your kids the next time you hear “I’m bored!”??? Grab your free printable list of low or no prep screen free activities to keep your kids busy while you get stuff done below!