PBS
Parachute Parade
Sail to the ground with a parachute activity! Kids construct parachutes out of household items and a toy figure, after brainstorming the best way to reduce drag. Once they test their parachutes, they can adjust their projects to optimize...
Curated OER
The Parachute
Students discuss parachutes and write a procedure to determine the effect of different size parachutes and different masses on the time it takes the masses to fall. They record all their data from their experiment then write three...
Curated OER
"Here We Go" Parachute Routine
Rather than just shouting out commands on what to do with a parachute, turn some music on and make it a dance routine. This seems like a pretty cool way to engage young learners. Make a dome, hop, make waves, walk, twist, and shake that...
Museum of Science
Parachute Design
Deploy an activity that requires deploying a parachute. An engaging lesson challenges learners to design and construct parachutes. They test out their creations and consider what changes should be made to improve the parachute's...
Mr Gym
Parachute Skills
Flutter, dome, mushroom, tent, jell-o, popcorn, volcano, floating cloud, and mashed potatoes. What do these terms have in common? They are all things to do in a parachute activity. Check out this activity, the pictures included with the...
Mascil Project
Parachute Food Drop
Drop a perfect project into your lesson plans. Groups use different building materials to create models of parachutes for food drops. After testing out their prototypes, they make improvements to their designs.
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Playing with Parachutes
This lesson certainly will not be a drag! Little engineers design parachutes that make use of air resistance and, as a result, slow the descent of the payload as much as possible. It is an opportunity to teach about many motion concepts:...
DiscoverE
At Home: Safe Landing Activity
A parachute is probably a good idea. An engaging lesson has pupils brainstorm ways to slow the descent of a falling object to minimize the impact when it lands. They decide on a design, build a prototype, test it out, and then make...
Curated OER
Parachute Dance
Who doesn't like playing with a parachute? Get out the CD player, find "Behind the Clouds" by Brad Paisley, and get those youngsters moving. The movements in this dance are very basic: slide steps, walking, shaking, swaying, and...
NASA
Parachute Design
Bring the science of space exploration to the classroom. Young learners explore the mechanics of the parachute-landing mechanisms on the Mars Rover. They design and build their own parachute models and test their ability to land a probe...
Curated OER
Design a Parachute
Students engage in a discussion about what a parachute is and how it works. They create a parachute using different materials that they think will work best. The students test their designs, which will be followed by a class discussion...
Teach Engineering
Flight of the Fruit: Weight, Gravity and Imagination
Beware the falling fruit. Scholars design and build parachutes that can help protect fruit as it falls. They test out their creations, learning about gravity, weight, air resistance, and measurement concepts along the way.
Curated OER
Blow-and-Go Parachute
Learners design a skydiver and parachute constraption to demonstrate how drag caused by air resistance slows the descent of skydivers as they travel back to Earth. They experience how gravity pulls the skydiver toward the earth and how...
Curated OER
Parachutes: What a Drag
Sixth graders make 2 different kinds of parachutes and record and graph the time for each one for the different drag forces. In this parachute lesson plan, 6th graders compare the results to the rest of the class of each parachute and...
Curated OER
Parachutes, Circles and Pi...Oh My!
Learners explore different size circles to discover the relationship between diameter and circumference. In this circles and Pi lesson, students construct simple parachutes using circle patterns of varying sizes. Learners predict the...
Curated OER
Parachute Color Match
Students explore the concept of color awareness and matching. In this color awareness activity, students participate in a parachute activity to build their knowledge of matching colors. This activity involves using a beanbag and...
Evergreen Exhibitions
Leonardo da Vinci: Machines in Motion
Motion is the focus of ten hands-on activities that challenge scholars to build machines invented by Leonardo da Vinci. Following several steps, small groups work collaboratively to recreate machines including levers, pulleys, wheels,...
Curated OER
Parachute Drop
Learners will have fun creating a parachute to collect data with. They will construct the parachute in small groups, measure the materials, and create an observation sheet. Then they drop the parachute and make predictions about how long...
Teach Engineering
Egg-cellent Landing
The classic egg-drop experiment gets a new bounce with an activity that asks pairs to design a lander similar to one used to land a rover on Mars within a fixed budget. The activity provides a great introduction to the idea of terminal...
Curated OER
Build Your Own Parachute
Learners study the basics of parachuting. In this flight and aerodynamics lesson students make a simple parachute and investigate different variables that can cause potential problems.
DiscoverE
Safe Landing
Watch out below! Future engineers come up with methods to ensure that a ball in a cup stays in the cup even after dropped from a given height. It might be prudent to include some kind of shock absorber in the cup. Parachutes are a good...
Curated OER
Parachutes: What Affects a Parachute
Students create a simple paper parachute. In this parachute design lesson, students examine the effects of the wind and make napkin parachutes.
Chicago Children's Museum
Simple Machines: Force and Motion
Get things moving with this elementary science unit on simple machines. Through a series of nine lessons including teacher demonstrations, hands-on activities, and science experiments, young scientists learn about forces, motion, and...
Curated OER
Parachute - Land and Weather
Students use different parachute activities to study weather and land patterns and formations. Tornados and hurricanes can be discussed as students make large waves (move from very high to very low) that mimmick these two weather...