The Great Safari STEM Build
Every winter, families design, build, and test a hands-on engineering challenge together. This page is updated each year; this year’s build is below.
The Egg Drop Challenge — Keep Your Egg Safe!
Save the Egg!
Your family’s mission: design and build a container or contraption from everyday household materials that keeps a raw egg from cracking when it’s dropped from up high. Engineer it, test it, and drop it — will your egg survive?
🥚 The challenge at a glance
Build something that protects one raw egg through a drop from at least 6 feet up (a ladder, balcony, or second-story window). If your egg lands uncracked, you’ve done it! Use simple supplies like cardboard, cotton balls, straws, tape, plastic bags, and balloons — then film the big drop.
A Family Team Challenge
No separate age groups — siblings of all ages work together on one entry, perfect for multi-age households. Grown-ups guide and cheer; the building belongs to the kids.
Materials & Rules
- Protect one raw egg — it must be uncooked (that’s the real test!).
- Use simple supplies: cardboard, paper, cotton, straws, string, tape, plastic bags, balloons, and recyclables.
- Not allowed: store-bought egg-protector kits or ready-made packaging — build your own!
- Drop it from at least 6 feet up (an adult can help with the drop).
- Build and test it as a family — one entry per household.
How Entries Are Judged
- Did the egg survive? — an uncracked egg is the goal
- Creativity — clever, original design
- Problem-solving — effort to test and improve
- Teamwork — the family working together
Top Family Teams Win
Important Dates
How to Enter
- Build your egg protector as a family, then test it with a drop!
- Film the big drop (a slow-motion moment is fun!) and show us whether your egg survived.
- Post your video to the STEM Build thread in the Parent Forum with your family name. A sentence about what you’d improve earns bonus points!
Ready to save the egg? 🥚
Sign up, then build, drop, and see if your egg survives!
Sign Up to Enter →See what our family engineers have built over the years! Click any year to view the winners.
2025/26 The Great Safari Bridge Build — our first! ▾
Our first STEM build challenged families to engineer a bridge from household materials. Congratulations to our two winning family teams!
bridge photo
bridge photo