Bring the excitement of fall into your classroom with this Pumpkin Tower STEM Challenge! Students work in teams to design and build the tallest free-standing tower that can hold a pumpkin using simple materials. This hands-on activity encourages creativity, problem-solving, collaboration, and critical thinking through the lens of Depth & Complexity (Rules).

This resource includes everything you need to run the challenge with ease:

• Teacher Lesson Plan – objective, materials list, step-by-step directions, Depth & Complexity connections, and discussion prompts.
  
• Student Recording Sheets (3 pages) – hypothesis/sketch, results/data collection, and reflection questions.
  
• Engaging Reflection Prompts aligned to the Depth & Complexity icon Rules.
  

Perfect for:

• STEM centers or stations
  
• Small-group or whole-class challenges
  
• Fall classroom fun days or enrichment activities
  

Your students will love testing their designs while learning about balance, stability, and engineering design principles — and you’ll love having everything organized and ready to use!