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Cookie Package Engineers

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Grades K-230-45 minSource: Creative Dad Company

Kids design protective packaging that can keep a fragile cookie safe during a simulated shipping trip. It's a crunchy, real-world lesson in cushioning and material choices.

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Every level teaches the same core idea — pick the one that fits your time, budget, and energy today.

Prep: 10 minActivity: 35 min1 session~$2/groupOne table or a small area of floor spaceBeginner-friendly

Setup

Gather cookies or crackers, small boxes, recycled cushioning and clear a small work surface. Read the Cookie Package Engineers mission aloud, then place the supplies where children can choose and compare them safely.

Activity

  1. Predict what kind of padding will protect a fragile cookie from cracking during shipping.
  2. Build a protective package around the cookie using bubble wrap and cardboard inside a small box.
  3. Ship the package with a drop or shake test and discover the cookie cracked, then add more cushioning and retest.
  4. Present the surviving cookie to a taste-test judge as proof the packaging worked.

Done when: Children complete the core mission and the surviving cookie to a taste-test judge as proof the packaging worked.

Materials

Cookies (or cookie-shaped clay), bubble wrap, cardboard, tape, a small box

Shown for the Quick Start version — switch tabs above to see what changes.

Disclosure: Materials links below go to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, Creative Dad Company earns from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

Steps

  1. Predict what kind of padding will protect a fragile cookie from cracking during shipping.
  2. Build a protective package around the cookie using bubble wrap and cardboard inside a small box.
  3. Ship the package with a drop or shake test and discover the cookie cracked, then add more cushioning and retest.
  4. Present the surviving cookie to a taste-test judge as proof the packaging worked.

Standards it satisfies

  • NGSS · K-2-ETS1-3

    Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.