Little Learner’s STEM: Humpty Dumpty Egg Drop

Any other mamas like me and still trying to keep your little ones busy at home this summer? I feel like since things closed down in March, we are suffering from cabin fever. Even though some things are opening up, it’s still not the same and my little preschooler needs to be entertained. Of course my go-to is to find fun STEM activities to do at home! Today I’m sharing a fun STEM Egg Drop activity with a FREE Printable below!

Since we are using Busy Toddler’s preschool program (which I cannot recommend enough!), I’ve been having fun thinking of a STEM challenge that goes with our weekly theme. A couple of weeks ago, we did a Building Rainbows challenge HERE. This week, we read Humpty Dumpty and other nursery rhymes. Since eggs drops were a favorite with my older students when I was in the classroom, I knew it would be fun to adapt this for my younger son at home! It can get a little messy, but that is all part of the fun.

We had extra fun with this one because Fitz had a little friend over for a playdate, so it was kind of like a little group activity. 🙂 Bellamy is my childhood bestie’s daughter and we had them just a week apart four years ago!

Egg Drop Materials:

Building blocks, raw eggs, splat mat/ towel/plastic tub, rubber bands, tape, materials to use to protect the eggs: plastic wrap, bubble wrap, paper, plastic baggies, cotton balls, etc.

Egg Drop Steps:

1. Read “Humpty Dumpty”. We have THIS fun little board book that has other short nursery rhymes as well!
2. Build a block wall. We just used our bag of foam blocks! We built the wall inside our large plastic tub that we use for sensory bins and other messy activities.
3. Talk about the raw egg (our “real” Humpty Dumpty) and what will happen if he falls off your block wall. This is a great chance to practice making predictions.
4. Drop Humpty: I drew a little smiley face on the egg and then let each kid have fun dropping the egg off the top of the wall. They loved watching it crack!
5. Discuss: What material could we use to protect Humpty?
6. Enjoy testing different materials to protect Humpty and test them! For each test, ask for predictions: If the egg is inside a ziplock bag, what do you think will happen? Will it have small cracks, a big crack, or break open completely?
7. Add challenges: You can make a limit of just two materials for a trial, and really make them think about their material choices. After a while, Fitz and Belle wanted a higher wall so we ended up moving over the edge of a dresser for Humpty’s “Wall” and a harder challenge!

This FREE printable below also adds more by providing a space for before and after drawings and a page to circle the materials used! I did this activity with two kiddos who just turned four and they did great with it. They loved drawing circles around the materials they used, and putting Xs over the ones we didn’t. 🙂

The big learning here is that your child can test, evaluate, and then improve their egg protection designs. For example, they may just wrap paper around the egg and find that the egg will completely break. How many cracks does it get if you wrap it in bubble wrap? Or put it in a plastic baggie? The goal is to continue improving the design until your egg stays as put together as possible.

I’d love to hear if you try out this STEM Egg Drop activity!