Severe weather STEM: a 3rd grade windstorm roof challenge
What it is: a 3rd grade engineering challenge where teams design a paper roof for a small box house and test whether it stays on in a strong breeze from a fan. Students learn that people in places with hurricanes and strong storms reduce damage by how they build, and they practice planning, testing and improving a design.
Time: about 40 minutes. Grade: 3rd grade.
Materials: a small box (like a tissue box) per team as the house, cardstock, paper, tape (limit 50 cm per team), string, paper clips, modeling clay, a box fan, and a meter stick.
- Show the house. Explain: in strong storms, wind can lift roofs off, so builders in windy places fasten roofs tightly to the walls.
- Share the rules: the roof must cover the whole top, can use only the materials given, and may be taped to the walls at no more than four points.
- Teams sketch a design and label how the roof will stay on.
- Build for 15 minutes.
- Test: an adult turns the fan on low and then high, 1 meter from the house, for 10 seconds each. Record whether the roof stays on, lifts, or flies off.
- Teams improve the design for 5 minutes and test again.
- Share: which ideas worked best (overhang shape, weight, tie-downs)?
Safety: an adult controls the fan, keeps fingers away from the blades, and turns it off before anyone adjusts a house.
Differentiation: students who need support start from a sample roof and change one thing. Students who are ready measure how far a failed roof flies and use it to compare designs. English learners can use "Our roof stayed on because ___."
Quick check: ask a team to explain one way real builders protect roofs in windy places.
Save this activity to your library so it is ready when you need it.
Found this helpful? Get the week's best posts like it.
About this resource
- Shared by
- @UpOnlyLearning · Curriculum team
- Posted
- Oct 30, 2026
- Type
- Lesson plan
- Grade
- Grades 3–5
- Subject
- Science
- Language
- English
- License
- Free for classroom, co-op and tutoring use. Please don't resell.