Motor Away- Wolf Scout

Motor away

Ok, so anyone who has read anything on my blog

knows my son is not athletic. So for his STEM patch, he had the choice of 

doing either Motor Away or Paws of Skill. 

He chose Motor Away!

So lets follow the directions to finish it. 

Also, it seems like there are no changes for this even with the modifications.

So lets begin!

I always read what it say in the book to my son, then we do what it says to do.

Requirement 1A

Create and Fly 3 different types of paper airplanes. ( Love this!) Before launching them, record which one you believe will travel the farthest and what property of the plane leads you to this prediction. 

( We made it into a competition. Like I would let him choose one, I wrote his name on it. I chose one too. Then we flew them. Then we would scream " Mine beat yours", if it did. )

Here is the Arrow Plane above from page 269. 

Great this about that Wolf Handbook is that it GIVES you the 

directions on how to make 3 airplanes. We followed those directions.

Here below is the Delta airplane from page 271.

And Lastly, here is the Dart from page 272!

Now here is all 3!

If you noticed, we wrote on them, which will go farthest and which will go least.

We did multiple races. It was funny!

Requirement 1B-

Make a paper airplane catapult.  Before launching, record how far you believe it will travel and explain what info you used to make this prediction. After, launch the plane and measure how far it flies.

We used the 3 airplanes from 1A. We punched a hole in all 3. After launching one, we would take the rubber band out and and launch the next 1. 

Remember to record at least one on how far it flew. We had to go back and do that because we forgot the measuring tape.

See, more fun if it's a competition.
Again, make sure to record your measurements!!

Requirement 2
Make 2 different boats and sail them. Choose 2 different shapes.

We chose to make 3 different boats.
I asked the question about paper boats. He said paper doesn't float.
So, we followed this video on YouTube to make one.

And here is our special paper boat!

We made 2 and yes they float.

Here my son used recycled stuff to make a sail boat.

And lastly, a aluminium barge.

All 3 floated. Sail boat was the most difficult to sail in the bathtub later because the sail kept falling off. The Barge held up a lot of weight. Also learned about displacement. Made a small one vs a large one and kept adding coins to both until the smaller one sank.

Requirement 3
Create a car that moves under its own power

We tried 2 different Balloon cars. Had 4 adults and my son work on them. Both cars failed to move. I think if you plan on making one, maybe try a bendy straw and see if you can have the straw blow against the ground. Might work then.
So since that failed for us, we also made the Spool car.
Make sure if you do this one, that you have the washers. I forgot at 1st and it did not move. After the washers were on, it moved. My son played with it till the rubber band finally popped.

And there you go. If your child likes crafts,  creating something, science or even competition,
he will love Motor Away!
So have fun with it. And if something doesn't work like it should, ask your scout what he would change to make it work. Add some suggestions. Make sure they try their best.
And remember, if your scout is doing STEM, the Motor Away works for either Tech Talk or Swing. But you can NOT use it for both.
Have a great day.