Creative Dad CompanyCreative Dad Company
EngineeringMathTechnology

Mars Pizza Delivery

Log in to save
Grades 3-560-75 minSource: Creative Dad Company

Kids design insulated packaging and plan efficient rover routes to deliver a pretend pizza across a miniature Martian landscape without it going cold or getting crushed. It's a fun mashup of thermodynamics, geometry, and problem-solving that turns a delivery challenge into a full engineering mission.

Choose your version

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

Prep: 10 minActivity: 45 min1 session~$2/groupOne table or a clear section of floorBeginner-friendly

Setup

Place common or recycled supplies for Mars Pizza Delivery on one work surface and choose a safe area for the test. Read the four activity directions aloud; drawings, paper models, and household substitutes may replace specialized materials, and no digital tool is required.

Activity

  1. Have kids touch a warm object and predict which materials, such as foil, cotton, or felt, will keep it warmest the longest before building anything.
  2. Build a small insulated container for the pizza using layered materials and construct a simple rover or sled to carry it across a taped-off Martian terrain map.
  3. Test the delivery by timing the route and checking the pizza's temperature at the finish line, then redesign the packaging or route when the rover tips over on rocky terrain or the pizza arrives cold.
  4. Hold a mission control presentation where each team reports their delivery time, temperature results, and the route changes that saved their pizza.

Done when: The group produces the Mars Pizza Delivery solution, completes the described test, makes the revision called for by the evidence, and supports its final explanation with an observed or measured result.

Materials

cardboard box, aluminum foil, cotton balls or felt scraps, tape, string, small toy car to act as rover, ruler, thermometer (optional), red sand or flour for terrain

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. Have kids touch a warm object and predict which materials, such as foil, cotton, or felt, will keep it warmest the longest before building anything.
  2. Build a small insulated container for the pizza using layered materials and construct a simple rover or sled to carry it across a taped-off Martian terrain map.
  3. Test the delivery by timing the route and checking the pizza's temperature at the finish line, then redesign the packaging or route when the rover tips over on rocky terrain or the pizza arrives cold.
  4. Hold a mission control presentation where each team reports their delivery time, temperature results, and the route changes that saved their pizza.

Standards it satisfies

  • NGSS · 3-5-ETS1-3

    Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.