Project-based learning with Peeps!

I love project-based learning!  It's fun to see kids get jazzed up about a topic and collaborate well (or not) with other students.  Mostly it's just fun to watch them create!  They have such great ideas and are so much more willing to push boundaries in their thinking.

Last year, coming up on Easter break, I came up with the idea to create a Peeps catapult challenge.  I had seen something similar on Pinterest and it looked like it would be engaging for kids who were starting to check out on the day before break.  I talked to the other two teachers on my team, and like the great troopers they are ("OMG, Marion, have you come up with yet another crazy idea?") they decided to plan something for Peeps around their content areas, too.

Different designs and different approaches to catapulting led to some surprises!

Building houses required geometry skills.  Would the homes be large enough for the Peeps chick to fit inside?

In Science, students researched the physical and behavioral adaptations that animals make, to survive in the wild.  Then, they were assigned a biome, and had to present how their Peeps would adapt to that environment.

A great day of learning!

If you're intrigued, take a look at how I incorporated these ideas, along with some other ones (better materials, more math and some writing) in this product which you can find on my 

TeachersPayTeachers store.

Have a great day!