I didn’t want to title this post as Christopher Columbus Day because I know many people have issues with him (including myself). However, there are still states that require teachers to teach about Christopher Columbus. I decided to make a STEM activity for Christopher Columbus that focuses more on STEM and less on the historical past. It focuses on discovering America via a ship and creating a ship that will hold as much cargo as possible.

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If you don’t want to do any Christopher Columbus part to this activity that would be possible too. Your students can make the ships without any reference to Christopher Columbus. That is what is great about my STEM units is that they are able to be adapted to different circumstances.

Here’s a picture of my nephew building the boat. I love how he used straw as the base of the boat to keep it floating. It’s nice to see how their minds think.

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Here’s a picture of both of my nephew’s boats. The battle began!

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My younger nephew won by having his ship carry the most LEGO cargo.

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And then, he pushed his luck too far…

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To find out more about my October STEM activities click here: October STEM activities