The Air Powered Car Challenge

Air Powered Car is a group initiative that promotes teamwork skills, strategy and inspires creative thinking.

Begin by dividing your group into smaller teams of three to five people. Much more than five, and the teams become a little unwieldy, with little for some of the group to do.

Distribute the following materials to each team:

• 8 sheets of paper
• 6 drinking straws
• 30cm (1′) of sticky-tape

Using only these resources, each team aims to construct a vehicle that can be powered by breath only. Announce that the vehicle should be more functional than artistic, because when the time expires, every vehicle will be given the opportunity to be powered, by one person’s breath, to measure how far it can travel.

Allow ten minutes for planning and construction.
When ready, ask each team to prop their vehicle on a defined line, and permit them to give their vehicle one, long puff of breath to propel their vehicle forward.

Of course, the team which moves their air-powered vehicle the farthest distance, wins.

Moment of Reflection

• Describe the creative process of your team.
  Did your team ‘imagine’ before building or begin building immediately?
• How did your team learn from the failures in your vehicle’s design to improve its performance?
• What was the most creative element of your team’s design?

The topics of this publication: interactions, strategy, collaboration, teamwork, cooperation, adaptability skills, planning, adaptation, creativity, critical thinking