A Pinwheel That Lifts a Paper Clip1. Each team builds a paper pinwheel and tapes it firmly to one end of a pencil. Slide the pencil through a wide straw so that it turns freely when someone holds the straw.2. Tie a thread to the other end of the pencil and hang one paper clip from it.3. One person holds the straw. A second person blows on the pinwheel, or the team stands it in front of a fan.4. Score: the number of paper clips the pinwheel winds all the way up to the pencil. Add one clip at a time.Group: teams of 3 or 4. Time: about 30 min. Needs: for each team a square of paper, a pencil, a wide straw, tape, thread, paper clips and scissors; a fan if there is one. Science: a wind turbine converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. The pinwheel here uses the wind to lift a paper clip instead. Debrief: What did you change about the blades to lift one more clip?
A Paper Table for One Textbook1. Each team gets eight sheets of paper, tape and one square of cardboard for the tabletop. 2. Build a table whose legs are made of paper only. It must stand at least as tall as a pencil is long. 3. Lay a textbook on the top and count to ten. 4. Score: one point for holding one book, and one more for each book added before a leg gives way. Group: teams of 3 or 4. Time: about 30 min. Needs: for each team eight sheets of paper, tape and a square of cardboard; a stack of textbooks. Science: buckling is the sudden change in shape of a part under load, such as the bowing of a column under compression. Debrief: Which leg buckled first, and how was it different from the others?
A Straw Bridge That Carries the Most Coins1. Push two desks apart until the gap is as wide as a ruler is long. 2. Each team builds a bridge from 20 straws and tape. It rests on both desks and is not taped to them. 3. Hang a paper cup from the middle of the bridge with a loop of string. 4. Score: the number of coins in the cup when the bridge falls or sags below the desk tops. Add the coins one at a time. Group: teams of 3 or 4. Time: about 30 min. Needs: for each team 20 drinking straws, tape, a paper cup and string; a ruler and a jar of coins to share. Science: a truss bridge carries its load through connected straight elements, usually in triangular units, that may be stressed in tension, in compression or both. Debrief: Which straw was being pulled, and which was being pushed?
A Straw Tower That Holds a Golf Ball1. Give each team 25 straws and one arm's length of tape. The tower must stand on the desk without being taped to it. 2. Teams have five minutes to sketch and fifteen to build. 3. Set the golf ball on top and let go for a count of ten. 4. Score: the height of the ball above the desk, in centimeters, for every tower that holds it for the full count. Group: teams of 3 or 4. Time: about 30 min. Needs: for each team 25 drinking straws, tape and scissors; one golf ball and a meter stick to share. Science: a truss is an assembly of straight members joined at nodes into a rigid structure, typically built of triangular units. Debrief: Where did the tower bend first, and what would a triangle have done there?
Show all 24 challenges (21 more)
Towers and bridges, continued
A Tower That Stands on a Shaken Tray1. Each team builds a tower from 20 straws and tape on a cardboard base, at least two hand spans tall. 2. Tape a small bag of ten coins to the top floor: the people in the building. 3. Set the base on a tray. One person slides the tray back and forth ten times, as far as a hand is wide. 4. Score: one point for each shake the tower stays upright through. Rebuild once and test again. Group: teams of 3 or 4. Time: about 30 min. Needs: for each team 20 drinking straws, tape, a cardboard base and ten coins in a small bag; a tray. Science: engineers test structural models on an earthquake shaking table, which shakes them with simulated ground motions, often to the point of failure. Debrief: What did you change for the second test, and did it help?
Flat Deck Against Arch: Which Paper Bridge Carries More?1. Stand two stacks of books a hand span apart. Each team gets three strips of thin card, each as long as a sheet of paper. 2. Lay one strip flat across the gap. For the second bridge, bend a strip into an arch between the stacks and lay the last strip flat on top of it. 3. Before testing, the team writes down one prediction for each bridge: how many coins it will carry. 4. Score: one point for each bridge whose coin count lands within five of the prediction. Stack the coins at the middle, one at a time. Group: teams of 3 or 4. Time: about 20 min. Needs: for each team three strips of thin card cut from a file folder, books and coins. Science: an arch bridge passes its load partly as a horizontal thrust into the abutments at each end, here the stacks of books. Debrief: What did the books have to do for the arch that they did not do for the flat deck?
The Longest Arm Off the Edge of the Desk1. Each team gets 15 straws, tape and one paper clip. The arm and its tape may touch only a strip of desk as wide as a hand. 2. Build an arm that sticks out past the edge of the desk with nothing under it. 3. Hang the paper clip from the far end. The arm must hold it for a count of ten. 4. Score: the distance from the desk edge to the paper clip, in centimeters. Group: teams of 3 or 4. Time: about 20 min. Needs: for each team 15 drinking straws, tape and a paper clip; a ruler. Science: a cantilever is a structural element fixed at one end and unsupported at the other; it carries a load at its free end back to the support. Debrief: What kept the arm from drooping, and what would you add with five more straws?
Drops and landings 6
A Cup Lander That Keeps Its Crew Aboard1. Each team gets a paper cup, two cotton balls as the crew, four index cards and tape. The cup stays open at the top. 2. Build legs and bumpers from the index cards so that the crew stays inside when the cup is dropped upright. 3. Drop each lander from desk height, then from shoulder height. 4. Score: one point for each cotton ball still in the cup after each drop, four points at most. Group: teams of 3 or 4. Time: about 30 min. Needs: for each team a paper cup, two cotton balls, four index cards, tape and scissors. Science: a crumple zone lengthens the time a stop takes through controlled deformation, and the average force is inversely related to that time. Debrief: Did your folded cards bend on landing, and was that good or bad?
A Paper Catcher With No Bounce Out1. Each team gets two sheets of paper and tape, and builds a catcher that sits on the floor. 2. One person holds a coin level with the desk top, over the catcher, and lets it go. No throwing. 3. The coin must end up inside the catcher. A coin that bounces out does not count. 4. Score: the number of catches in ten drops. Teams may rebuild once, after the fifth drop. Group: teams of 3 or 4. Time: about 20 min. Needs: for each team two sheets of paper, tape and a coin. Science: the coefficient of restitution measures the springiness of a collision, from 1 for a perfectly elastic bounce to 0 for no rebound at all. Debrief: What did you change after five drops, and why?
A Parachute That Takes the Longest to Land1. Each team gets a square of thin plastic cut from a trash bag, four lengths of thread, tape and three paper clips as the jumper. 2. Build and test for fifteen minutes. Teams may trim the canopy, change the thread length or cut a vent. 3. One person drops each parachute from the same spot, standing on the floor with an arm held straight up. A second person times the fall. 4. Score: the average of three timed drops. The longest average ranks first. Group: teams of 3 or 4. Time: about 30 min. Needs: for each team a square of thin plastic from a trash bag, thread, tape, three paper clips and scissors; a stopwatch. Science: a parachute slows the descent of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag. Debrief: Which one change added the most time?
An Egg Lander From Straws and Tape1. Each team gets one raw egg sealed in a sandwich bag, 15 straws and an arm's length of tape. 2. Build a lander around the egg in twenty minutes. No parachutes: the lander has to take the hit. 3. An adult drops each lander onto a hard floor covered with newspaper, first from desk height and then from shoulder height. 4. Score: one point for an egg that survives the first drop and two for the second. Among the survivors, the lightest lander ranks first. Group: teams of 3 or 4. Time: about 40 min. Needs: for each team a raw egg sealed in a sandwich bag, 15 drinking straws and tape; newspaper for the floor, a kitchen scale. Science: the egg drop contest is a school experiment in building a device that keeps a raw egg intact when it is dropped from a height. Debrief: Which part of the lander touched the floor first, and what happened to it?
Rubber Band Bungee: Closest to the Floor, No Touch1. Each team loops three rubber bands into a chain and ties on a small bag of ten coins. One person holds the top of the chain at the edge of a desk and lets the bag fall. 2. A second person watches the lowest point the bag reaches and marks it on a strip of paper taped to the desk leg. Repeat with four bands. 3. From those two marks, the team predicts how many bands will bring the bag closest to the floor from the top of a door frame without touching it. 4. Score: an adult holds each chain at the door frame and lets the bag fall. The smallest gap above the floor ranks first, and a touch ranks last. Group: teams of 3 or 4. Time: about 30 min. Needs: for each team twelve rubber bands, ten coins in a small bag, a strip of paper, tape and a pencil. Science: Hooke's law says that the force needed to stretch a spring scales linearly with the distance it is stretched. Debrief: How did you get from two test marks to your prediction?
Which Lands First? Five Pairs, One Team Call1. Line up five pairs to drop from the same height: a flat sheet and a crumpled sheet, a coin and a paper circle of the same size, a book and a sheet laid on top of the book, and two pairs the class chooses. 2. Before each drop, teams have thirty seconds to agree on one call and write it down: left, right or together. 3. Two people drop the pair from shoulder height on a count of three. Everyone else watches the floor. 4. Score: one point for each call that matches what the class saw. Drop again if the watchers disagree. Group: teams of 3 or 4. Time: about 15 min. Needs: paper, a coin, a book and scissors. Science: drag is a force that acts opposite to the direction of motion of an object moving through a fluid, here the air. Debrief: Which result surprised the team, and how would you explain it?
Motion and machines 6
A Chain Reaction in Five Steps1. The job: a machine that drops a coin into a cup at the end of at least five steps, where each step sets off the next. 2. Each team member designs and owns one step: a ramp, a row of falling books, a rolling roll of tape, a swinging string. 3. Join the steps in order and test. Teams get three official runs. 4. Score: one point for each step that fires with no hand touching it, on the best of the three runs. Group: teams of 3 or 4. Time: about 40 min. Needs: things in the room, such as books, rulers, pencils, a roll of tape, string, a coin and a cup. Science: in a chain reaction machine the action of each simple device triggers the next, until the goal is reached. Debrief: Which handoff between two steps failed most often, and who fixed it?
A Craft Stick Catapult at Three Distances1. Each team gets seven craft sticks, five rubber bands, a plastic spoon and three pom-poms. 2. Build a launcher that stays on the desk when it fires. Launch pom-poms only, and only toward the empty end of the room. 3. Set three bowls on the floor at one, two and three long steps from the desk. 4. Score: one point for the near bowl, two for the middle and three for the far one. Each team takes six shots and may adjust between shots. Group: teams of 3 or 4. Time: about 30 min. Needs: for each team seven craft sticks, five rubber bands, a plastic spoon and three pom-poms; three bowls. Science: a catapult uses the sudden release of stored potential energy to propel its payload. Debrief: What did you change to reach the far bowl?
A Marble Coaster With One Hill1. Each team gets two sheets of thin card, tape and a marble. Cut the card into strips and fold up the edges to make track. 2. Tape the track to a wall or a stack of books. It needs a start, one hill the marble rolls up and over, and a cup at the end. 3. Release the marble at the start with no push. 4. Score: one point for clearing the hill, one for landing in the cup, and one more for each extra hill that the marble still clears. Group: teams of 3 or 4. Time: about 40 min. Needs: for each team two sheets of thin card, tape, scissors, a marble, a paper cup and books. Science: mechanical energy is the sum of potential and kinetic energy. Friction takes some of it away, so each hill has to be lower than the start. Debrief: How high could you make the hill before the marble rolled back?
Fewest Coins to Lift the Book1. Each team lays a ruler across a pencil like a seesaw and slips one end under the edge of a small book. 2. Stack coins on the other end until the book's edge lifts off the desk. Count them. 3. Move the pencil along the ruler and try again. Teams have ten minutes to find the best spot. 4. Score: the fewest coins that lift the book. Each team shows its best setup to the class. Group: teams of 3 or 4. Time: about 15 min. Needs: for each team a ruler, a pencil, a small book and a stack of coins. Science: a lever is a rigid beam pivoted at a fulcrum; it amplifies an input force, trading force against movement. Debrief: Where was the pencil when the fewest coins worked, and how far did the book rise?
How Many Books Until the Eraser Slides?1. Each team lays a binder flat as a ramp and sets an eraser on it. Three surfaces will cover the ramp in turn: the bare binder, a sheet of paper, a cloth. 2. Before testing, the team ranks the three surfaces from the first to slide to the last. 3. Raise the ramp by slipping books under one end, one book at a time, until the eraser slides. Write down the number of books for each surface. 4. Score: one point for each surface the team ranked in the right place. Group: teams of 3 or 4. Time: about 20 min. Needs: for each team a binder, an eraser, a sheet of paper, a cloth and a stack of books of the same size. Science: friction is the force that resists solid surfaces sliding against each other. Debrief: What would you test next to make the eraser hold on longest?
The Spinning Top That Spins Longest1. Each team gets a square of thin card, a short pencil, tape and three coins. 2. Cut a disk, push the pencil point through its center and tape the coins on wherever the team decides. 3. One person spins the top on a desk by hand. A second person times it from release until the disk touches the desk. 4. Score: the best of three timed spins. Teams may rebuild between spins. Group: teams of 3 or 4. Time: about 20 min. Needs: for each team a square of thin card, a short pencil, tape, three coins and scissors; a stopwatch. Science: a spinning top balances on its tip through the gyroscopic effect, then wobbles more and more as it loses energy and tips over. Debrief: Where did the coins work best, near the center or near the rim?
Water, air and heat 6
A Clay Boat That Carries the Most Paper Clips1. Give each team a lump of modeling clay the size of a golf ball and a tub of water. Drop the clay in as a ball first and watch what it does. 2. Teams reshape their clay until it floats. No other material is allowed. 3. Load paper clips one at a time, with a new loader for each clip. 4. Score: the number of paper clips aboard just before the boat takes on water. Group: teams of 3 or 4. Time: about 30 min. Needs: for each team modeling clay, a tub of water, a box of paper clips and paper towels. Science: buoyancy is the upward force of a fluid on an object in it. An object with an average density greater than that of the fluid tends to sink. Debrief: Which shape floated best, and what did the ball of clay do?
A Foil Channel That Delivers the Most Water1. Set a bowl on the floor a long step away from a chair. Each team gets a strip of foil as long as two arm spans, tape and a stack of books. 2. Build a channel from the chair seat down to the bowl. Nothing may hold it up except the books and the chair. 3. One person pours a full cup of water slowly in at the top. 4. Score: the water that reaches the bowl, poured back into the cup and marked with a pen. The highest mark ranks first. Group: teams of 3 or 4. Time: about 30 min. Needs: for each team a long strip of foil, tape, books, a cup and a bowl; towels for the floor. Science: Roman aqueducts moved water by gravity alone along a slight downward gradient; the steeper the gradient, the faster the flow. Debrief: Where did your channel lose water, and was it too steep or too flat there?
A Pinwheel That Lifts a Paper Clip1. Each team builds a paper pinwheel and tapes it firmly to one end of a pencil. Slide the pencil through a wide straw so that it turns freely when someone holds the straw. 2. Tie a thread to the other end of the pencil and hang one paper clip from it. 3. One person holds the straw. A second person blows on the pinwheel, or the team stands it in front of a fan. 4. Score: the number of paper clips the pinwheel winds all the way up to the pencil. Add one clip at a time. Group: teams of 3 or 4. Time: about 30 min. Needs: for each team a square of paper, a pencil, a wide straw, tape, thread, paper clips and scissors; a fan if there is one. Science: a wind turbine converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. The pinwheel here uses the wind to lift a paper clip instead. Debrief: What did you change about the blades to lift one more clip?
Change One Thing: The Glider Test1. Every team folds the same paper glider from the same instructions and flies it three times from a line, toward the empty end of the room. Write down the average distance. 2. The team chooses one thing to change: the wing tips, the weight on the nose, the width of the wings. Only one. 3. Fly the changed glider three times from the same line, thrown by the same person. 4. Score: the gain in average distance from the first glider to the second. A team that changed two things scores zero. Group: teams of 3 or 4. Time: about 30 min. Needs: paper, a paper clip for each team, a meter stick, tape for the line. Science: a scientific control is the part of an experiment designed to minimize the influence of every variable other than the one under investigation. Debrief: How sure are you that your change caused the gain?
The Clearest Water From One Muddy Cup1. Each team gets a plastic bottle cut in half, with the top half turned upside down as a funnel, and a choice of fillers: cotton balls, sand, gravel, a coffee filter. 2. Teams have ten minutes to layer a filter. Then each team pours one cup of muddy water through it. 3. Line up the cups of filtered water on a sheet of white paper. 4. Score: the class ranks the cups from clearest to cloudiest by a show of hands. Nobody drinks any of it. Group: teams of 3 or 4. Time: about 30 min. Needs: for each team a plastic bottle cut in half by an adult, cotton balls, sand, gravel, a coffee filter and two cups; a jug of muddy water, white paper. Science: filtration separates solid matter from a fluid with a filter medium that only the fluid can pass through. Debrief: Which layer did the most work, and how could you tell?
Keep the Ice Cube: Slowest Melt1. Each team gets two paper cups and a choice of wrappings: newspaper, foil, cotton balls, a cloth. 2. Teams have ten minutes to build a keeper. Then an adult drops one ice cube into each, and the keepers are closed. 3. Leave the keepers on the same table for twenty minutes. One cube sits in an open cup beside them for comparison. 4. Score: open the keepers together and rank what is left of each cube, from largest to smallest. Group: teams of 3 or 4. Time: about 40 min. Needs: for each team two paper cups, newspaper, foil, cotton balls, a cloth and tape; ice cubes of the same size, a timer. Science: thermal insulation is the reduction of heat transfer between objects of different temperatures. Debrief: Which material would you add more of, and which did nothing?
How this list was compiled: An original list of October 2026: 24 build-and-test challenges for teams of three or four in a science class or club, in four types (towers and bridges, drops and landings, motion and machines, water, air and heat). The challenges are standard classroom tasks set out here in new words, and nothing was copied from another list. The kit on each card is a starting kit that a teacher may change, and the minutes are rough figures for planning. The Science line on each card names the principle at work and says only what the lead of its Wikipedia article says, read on 14 October 2026: Truss, Buckling, Earthquake shaking table, Truss bridge, Cantilever, Arch bridge, Egg drop competition, Parachute, Crumple zone, Coefficient of restitution, Hooke's law, Drag (physics), Catapult, Mechanical energy, Friction, Lever, Rube Goldberg machine, Spinning top, Buoyancy, Scientific control, Filtration, Thermal insulation, Wind turbine, Roman aqueduct. No result of team building is claimed. This site's own safety rule holds for every card: only pom-poms and paper are launched, and only toward the empty end of the room; a raw egg stays sealed in its bag; an adult does the dropping from a height and any cutting of plastic; nobody drinks the filtered water; nobody is lifted, carried or blindfolded; and an adult runs and watches every challenge. That rule is this site's own and not a review by an expert. Licence: own work
How it works
These science team building activities are challenges a team builds, tests and scores: a straw tower, a paper bridge, an egg lander, a catapult. Each card lists the kit and names the principle at work, as Wikipedia states it.
Read the full guide
Games for team building in science class
Split the class into teams of three or four and hand every team the same kit. One of each type deals a structure, a drop, a machine and a water, air or heat challenge. The last step of each card is its scoring rule.
Nine challenges with nothing to buy
Choose Nothing to buy under the button for challenges made from paper, tape, books, coins and pencils, such as A Paper Table for One Textbook and Fewest Coins to Lift the Book.
Keep the Ice Cube: Slowest Melt needs ice cubes of one size, frozen the day before.
Questions and answers
What is a quick science team building activity?
Fewest Coins to Lift the Book takes about 15 minutes with a ruler, a pencil and coins. Which Lands First? Five Pairs, One Team Call takes the same with paper, a coin and a book.
What is the science behind the egg drop challenge?
The egg drop contest is a school experiment: build a device that keeps a raw egg intact through a fall. A lander that crumples makes the stop take longer, and the average force falls as that time grows. Wikipedia: Egg drop competition, Crumple zone.
How do you score a science team building challenge?
The last step of every card is the rule: a height in centimeters, a count of coins, a timed fall, or a point for each prediction that came true. A rebuild is allowed where the card says so.
What grades are these science team building activities for?
Grades 4 and up, in teams of three or four with an adult running each test. For a shorter start, STEM icebreakers has 28 openers for STEM classes and clubs.