STEM Challenge for Team Building Activity

For this great TEAM building Activity, I placed stacks of red solo cups on the floor around the room.  

I gave each team (4 people) a rubber band and four strings. 

I told them they needed to use the materials to get the cups and move them to the table and build a tower!  They could not touch the cups with their hands. 

 Most of the students figured out a strategy pretty quickly.  The most popular method was to tie each string to the rubber band.  Each person would pull on the string and make the rubber band wide open.  Working together they would move one cup at a time. 

This is a classroom management class for new teachers.  After the activity we discussed what was needed to be successful.  The students came up with Communication, Collaboration, and Critical Thinking.  These are three of the 21st Century Skills!

See this and other STEM challenges complete with follow up pages in this resource. NGSS STEM Engineering Challenges 3-5-ETS1-1, 3-5-ETS1-2 and 3-5-ETS1-3

and 

For more STEM Engineering Activities See

STEM Engineering Activities for Elementary Education