The most fun way to conduct an egg drop project is to make an event out of it. Invite the entire school to take part in an annual egg drop. A week before the egg drop, send home a notice with students describing the event and encouraging children to design a container to shield their eggs from a perilous impact. This sheet should include information pertaining to the egg drop's location, the height or heights from which the containers will be dropped, the surface below, as well as other rules.
Before the students create their egg drop containers, it is helpful to establish some parameters and other guidelines to limit their design. Often, a size limitation is useful. To prevent children from bringing in refrigerator boxes packed with foam peanuts, inform students that their containers must fit within a 1 1/2-foot cubed box or another container of specified dimensions. To make the project even more challenging, consider limiting the materials students can use to create their containers.
Students often come up with a variety of ideas when it comes to designing containers to protect their eggs from the harmful effects of gravity. For the external case, students rely on a wide range of materials, from cardboard or paper mache to plastic bags or cloth. Often, the eggs are padded by cushioning materials, such as shredded paper, packing peanuts, cotton, foam or popcorn. Offer extra points to students who come up with especially different or impressive contraptions, such as a container crafted from toothpicks and glue.
The day of the egg drop, set up the egg dropping stations at the specified location, such as the gymnasium roof or a second story window. Invite the students to watch from a safe spot that is several yards away from the egg drop zone. A school staff member, with help from another co-worker, drops the egg drop containers one at a time. Below, another staff member retrieves the fallen containers and opens them up to reveal whether or not the egg has broken.
While an egg drop project is bound to be a lot of fun for elementary school students, it is also a meaningful learning experience. In developing and designing their egg drop containers, students rely on intellectual skills, critical thinking and creativity to come up with a contraption that will protect their egg. The hands-on activity of making the container promotes motor skills and provides students with a fun craft. Altogether, the egg drop project is a hands-on way to problem-solve and use investigative learning in a fun way.