Bobsleds!

We finished off our inquiry into the Olympics by making bobsleds!

First we made our bobsleds from Kleenex Boxes: We made them fancy like real bobsleds. 

 

Then we brought in some  stuffies as athletes. But, safety first! We had to make helmets. Students had to choose something that would work as a helmet, then we strapped them on and decorated them.

C.P. Had a duck stuffie and chose a laundry detergent scoop to be the helmet. The scoop handle stuck out and protected the duck's bill. Somehow, this one didn't make it into the photos, but it was very creative. Form follows function!

We raced down the slide, then we had the chance to try to do something to our sleds to make them go faster. We found that heavier bobsleds seemed to go faster, so some people tried to make their sleds heavier. One student added an extra athlete for weight!
 

 

I also brought in a pair of vintage "bobskates" -- double bladed skates that strap onto your boots. We taped them onto a bobsled to see if it traveled faster. It traveled a bit faster. We found that the heavier bobsleds fell harder and some helmets cracked.

 

We concluded that heavier and faster bobsleds need more safety equipment!

We will revisit some of our Olympic Games during an upcoming Fun Friday! Just because the games are over in PyongChang doesn't mean that they are over at Earl Beatty!