L-EGG-O Zip-line

Can you safely get an egg down a zip-line without it smashing by designing a protective carrier out of LEGO?

L-EGG-O Zip-line in action.

What you need:
- eggs (you could always use plastic ones if you want to avoid the mess!)

- string
- selection of LEGOs
- somewhere to attach the zip-line (we used our a hand rail and a chair leg)

Materials needed.

How it works:

This is such a fun STEAM activity. As it can get a little messy I definitely recommend doing it outside! We made our zip-line by attaching some string to the hand rail for our outside steps, and the lower section of a chair leg. Make sure the string is pulled nice and tight.

Zip-line coming down from the hand rail.

The next stage was to explain the challenge to my 4 year old. I told him that he had to use LEGOs to design a safe carrier for the egg so that it could travel down the string without falling out and smashing. It was great to see him experimenting with different methods of engineering.

Designing the egg carrier.

Testing out how it attaches to the zip-line.

Now came the really fun part- testing out his creations! It was so funny watching how nervous he was as to whether his carriers would keep the egg protected. The first attempt was less than successful! The black bar holding the carrier to the string in the photo below snapped immediately and... splat! The egg was all over the floor!

Moments before disaster!

Next he chose a more stable and reinforced structure which proved to be way more successful!

All ready to go!

Wahoo- this one made it!

I was convinced his 'boat carrier' would not be able to keep the egg protected. It looked less than convincing! Somehow it worked though!!

The 'boat carrier' didn't look too promising!

Despite the egg falling out at the end it didn't smash!

This was a great way to enjoy some outdoors time whilst learning more about stable structures. The tension of trying to protect the eggs gave my little man such a buzz!