Snap!!!! is not the sound you want to hear when racing a mousetrap powered car. Your design will gradually use the power from the mousetrap, swinging lever arms, torquing axles and driving the car forwards. Design it for drag racing (using most of the mousetrap’s energy close to the start line), or for distance (spreading out and optimizing power from the mousetrap). Friction, structural integrity, and Newton’s Laws are a few of the many physics concepts you’ll want to design for.  It’s off to the races…

• Utilize design and engineering process
• Encourage creativity, critical thinking and problem solving
• Learn about kinetic and potential energy
• Apply the scientific method
• Innovate (design, build and evolve your own unique vehicle)

If you are working with ages 9 and up, start with the Build Guide, then move on to the Engineering Challenges.

MS Word or PDF - Which document format should you download? Always download the PDF document, unless you want to edit/change it. If you want to edit/change the document, download the MS Word (Microsoft Word™) version.

     Build Guide     

Start by creating an example Mousetrap Vehicle using the Build Guide. This will be a great design to get you started. You’ll begin to create your own amazing designs during the Engineering Challenges.

• Build Guide: PDF

     Engineering Challenges     

It’s time to redesign your Mousetrap Vehicle to compete in one or more engineering challenges. Use these challenges to solve design problems and improve your prototype.

• Mousetrap Long Shot Challenge: : PDF-- Race your vehicle farther than the competition.
• Mousetrap Engineering Notebook Page: PDF-- Design your vehicle to be the fastest.

STEAM Market-It Challenge

Add the STEAM Market-It Challenge to any completed TeacherGeek activity to teach students how to turn their TeacherGeek design into a retail product. Students will learn the 4 'Ps' of marketing - Product, Placement, Price and Promotion. Students have the option of completing a commercial, a billboard or retail packaging as a summative assessment.

•  STEAM Market-It Challenge: PDF or MS Word

What tools will you need to do this activity?

Sets of tools can be found here.

Make your Mousetrap Vehicle even better by incorporating recycling bin material.

What's in the Mousetrap Vehicle Activity?

This is an educational product and not a toy. It is intended for use by ages 9 and above with adult supervision.