Egg Drop

Divide the group into groups of 4 – 6 people in each group. Each group should be provided with a raw egg in the shell or a candy-coated cream egg. Draw a face on the egg to give it a personality. Instruct them to construct something for their egg so that when it is dropped, the outer shell will not break. Show them the height from which it will be dropped such as the bottom of the chalk ledge or a particular bookshelf. You may provide each group with materials to work with or have a common stash of stuff to use. Some suggestions are: packing peanuts, bubble wrap, popsicle sticks, yarn, felt, straws, string, and tape. Give them a short amount of time to work and then let each group test their idea.

After you finish the demonstration, process the activity with these or similar questions:

• When you first heard this activity, were you confident you could keep the egg safe?
• How protective did you feel over the egg?
• Did you feel bad if an egg was not protected enough and cracked?
• Do you feel protective over the other students in your class? Your teams? Your church friends?
• Do you think you would act any differently if you took the same time it took to protect the egg, to protect others’ feelings?