The Sponge-a-nator

Last week was "Space Week"at M's school. There were activities, classroom and school wide, throughout the week to celebrate the theme and get the kids excited about space.

M's class finished up their study of space weeks ago but because M had continued on with his Mars project, which he presented Monday, the timing was just right for him to participate with his Mars project.

In addition to sharing his Mars project on Monday, and then later in the week parading his Mars model (during the school wide space march), M also participated in the school wide Egg Drop Contest. Actually, constructing M's egg container was a family affair. : ) I helped M gather from throughout the house, the many possible materials that he and J-rod would later used in the construction of the container.

The construction process:

M and J-rod took a small Styrofoam craft-ball, cut it in half, carved out the center, and then used the remaining "shell" to encase the egg. Next they wrapped the Styrofoam encased egg in bubble wrap and placed all of that in a small cardboard box where the bubble wrap was sandwiched between two hard and thick pieces of Styrofoam. The box was then sealed shut and surrounded with sponges: a sponge taped to the top, bottom, and all four sides. The container was made so that the lid could be opened and the egg checked prior to and after the drop. The question was, was the egg encased in such a way it would survive the drop?

M once he and J-rod had finished the construction process:

M and "The Sponge-a-nator"

M was very excited to have a container with which he could participate in the egg drop!

The egg containers were dropped from this lift:

I didn't get a shot of "The Sponge-a-nator" on its way down from the lift. Here it is after the drop--it was immediately taken apart to verify that...the egg survived intact!!! The egg can be seen on the lower left hand-side of the picture, still secure in it's little Styrofoam encasing. Yay M!! : )