STEM: Build Cinderella’s or Harry Potter’s Castle

Design Challenge: Castles were especially important in the Medieval times. Cinderella and Harry Potter both need a castle to live in.  You need to choose which fictional character that you will develop a castle prototype for before their kingdoms are captured. A prototype is preliminary model of something. You will use what you know about structures and pulleys to design and build a castle that is free standing and three-dimensional.

Materials

cardboard tubes and paper

construction paper

tape

foil

popsicle sticks

coffee stirrers

string

paint stirrers

foam

Use the Engineering Design Process

Plan: Choose what characters’ castle you want to build and make a diagram.

Build your Castle

Criteria

a perimeter of at least 36 inches

• at least three towers
• a working drawbridge
• at least two windows
• a flag or banner with Cinderella’s name

Create: Using the material build your castle.

Improve: Check yourself. Did you meet the criteria?

Reflect and fix any problems with your castle

*When you have completed the castle, you may email us a picture of your castle. Tell which castle you built, and we will post it on our Facebook page.

Teen Center: mplteencenter@gmail.com