Homeschool Explorations: Engineering

Held January 2016

Introduction:
Welcome everyone and discuss the different types of engineering: Mechanical, Structural, Electrical, Chemical and Aerospace. Encourage the children to try
different modifications at each station to find the best results.
Mechanical:
Create a Car
Using paper, straws, beads and tape, the children can create their own cars.
Structural:
Test a Structure
Using shapes (cylinders, triangles, and rectangles) made out of cardstock, let the children see what structure is able to hold the most books.
Electrical:
Create circuits
Place Littlebits on a table and allow the children to create their own circuits through trial
and error.
Chemical:
Cleaning Pennies
Placing many different solutions (vinegar, baking soda, salt, oil, etc.) on the table, allow
the children to mix the solutions to figure out which one gets a dirty penny the cleanest.
Aerospace:
Straw Rockets
Have the children tape a piece of paper around a straw and close the top. Add wings.
Blow on the straw to launch.
Additional:
I interviewed engineers about what they liked doing as children and how they got started
as an engineer. I then created biographies for the children to take home.

Mechanical Engineering

Aerospace Engineering

Structural Engineering

Explorations

At Lakes Regional Library

Aerospace EngineerStraw Rockets

Methodology:
1. Wrap the square of paper around the straw and
tape down the sides.
2. Pull the straw out of the paper cylinder.
3. Fold down one end of the cylinder and tape.
Now you have an open end and a closed end on
your rocket.
4. Create wings with the extra paper and tape them
near the open end.
5. Put your finished rocket on the straw and blow!
Some Things to Try:
Is your rocket completely air tight or is some air
escaping when you blow on it? What does
making it air tight do?
Try differently shaped wings. How does that
affect your rocket?
What happens when you blow hard or softly?
What about changing the angle of your rocket?
How can you make it more aerodynamic?

Explorations

At Lakes Regional Library

Electrical EngineerMake the wire light up

Power and Light Wire

Fork

Buzzer

Slide Dimmer

Sound Trigger

RGB LED

Pulse

Explorations

At Lakes Regional Library

Chemical Engineer
Mandas Biography
Job Description:
Im a chemical engineer and I make power plants. I
invent machines that push water into a very big
boiler that makes lots of steam. The steam is used
to make electricity and that electricity is what makes
your lights, TVs, and phones work.
What I did as a kid to become an engineer:
All the sciences! I liked to try to invent new things
every day at home.
Advice for future engineers:
Engineering is all about thinking. If you like imagine
new things, you want to be an engineer. Pay
attention to the world around you and see if you can
see a way you could do something faster, easier, or
better.