ECHO, Leahy Center for Lake Champlain

Can you design a sail that harnesses the power of wind to move your cardboard boat?


Box fan (or other wind source)
Cardboard boat with a flat bottom
Cardstock, construction paper, and/or cereal box cardboard
Dowels, straws, or sticks
Tape & scissors

 Can you design a sail that harnesses the power of wind to move your cardboard boat?

 You will be exploring how the shape of a sail changes the way it moves. Try placing your sail at different angles, too!

: Incorporate some materials science and try making sails out of other supplies – what works best? What doesn’t work? What are sailboat sails made of?

the Challenge: Set up a fan, a starting spot, and a target (maybe an X of tape on the floor!). Design a sail that uses the power of the wind to move your cardboard boat to the target.

 Your Design: What shape do you want your sail to be? How will you keep it in position when the fan turns on?

Your  Creation: What happened to your boat when you turned the fan on to test your design?

Your Design: Does your sail need to be adjusted? Is it a good size?

Sail Away

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Can you design a fish that doesn’t sink or float to the surface?

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Can you design a contraption that launches a pom pom all the way across the room? 

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You can try these engineering design challenges with materials you might already have! The goal is to get you thinking like an engineer with problem-solving and having some hands-on, learning fun. Each challenge has a list of suggested materials, background science concepts, and some options to extend the challenge. We also walk you through the steps of the Engineering Design Process (define the problem, plan a solution, create a prototype, test your design, and improve your creation) with guiding questions to help along the way.

Resource Kits

Object Library

Museums

Engineer It! at home

Sail Away