Foil Boat Challenge

Kindergarten ScienceSink or Float3 pages

About this worksheet

Students design, test and improve a foil boat on this 3-page kindergarten engineering sheet. Page 1 shows four picture steps (take a square of foil, fold up the sides, put it on water, add pennies one at a time), then a box to draw the boat and a line for how many pennies it held. Page 2 asks for a better boat, a new penny count and what changed, with pictures for taller sides, wider bottom and smaller boat. It supports NGSS K-2-ETS1-3, and the key gives sample counts of 8 and 18 pennies.

Page 1 of 3

When this preview is focused, use the left and right arrow keys to move between pages.

Curriculum objectives covered

K-2-ETS1-3

โ€œAnalyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.โ€

Students record the pennies held by two boats, then circle the change they made between the first and the second.

What's inside this worksheet

Build and Test

Four picture steps for making and loading the boat. Students draw My boat in a large box and write the number of pennies it held.

Make It Better

A box for My better boat and a line for the new penny count. Then students circle what they changed from three pictures: taller sides, wider bottom or smaller boat.

Answers

Sample answers of 8 pennies for the first boat and 18 for the second, and a teacher note on which designs usually hold more.

How teachers use it

Set up the table

Give each pair a square of foil, a tub of water and a cup of pennies. Count the pennies out loud as they go in, one at a time.

Compare the boats

After the second test, line the boats up and ask which design held the most. Wide bottoms with tall sides usually win.

Collect page 1

Take in page 1 before students start page 2. Seeing the first drawing beside the improved one shows whether the change was deliberate.

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