Pumpkin Gate STEM Challenge

Our First Graders have been learning all about pumpkin farms, but that is only the beginning of our discoveries.  Today we learned the song 5 Little Pumpkins and added the song to our song and poem binder.  As the day went on we discussed what kind of gate you would need to hold those 5 pumpkins so they don't roll out of sight like in the song.  We decided to find out.  Students could work in teams, pairs or on their own to create a gate that would hold all 5 pumpkins.  Their gate had to fit on a 9"x6" piece of tag.  They could only use supplies found in our Makerspace.  Once again I was more than impressed by the creativity of our learners.  We had so many different gate designs.  Some included arches and trusses, while others went for a more solid brick and mortar (aka cardboard and tape) type approach.  Every student was successful at designing a gate to support their pumpkins.  Then as a special treat we sampled a few of our leftover over pumpkin candies.