Maryland Creative Problem Solvers Instant Challenge Library

The Mouse House (adapted)

This is a hybrid (verbal/hands-on) challenge.

The Challenge:

You must build a new "house" that is at least 6" high with a mouse hole in it. If you can roll a tennis ball through the mouse hole, and it is still intact, it will be big and strong enough.

Time:

You will have 6 minutes to design and build the mouse house and 2 minutes to roll the tennis ball through the mouse hole and add the "family members, represented by ping pong balls.

The Scene:

You are a tiny house mouse living in house that your family has inhabited for generations. It is getting very crowded as your family grows. Your problem is to build a new "house" that is at least 6" high with a mouse hole in it. If you can roll a tennis ball through the mouse hole, the house will be big enough for the whole family.

Materials:

10 spaghetti

10 "ziti" (pasta)

6 straws

2 rubber bands

2 sheets notebook paper

12" piece of string

5 paper clips

3 cotton balls

1 12" piece of wax paper

2 index cards

1 paper cup

1 paper plate

4 mailing labels

1 12" piece of aluminum foil

Directions:

You will have 6 minutes to design and build the mouse house. You may also practice rolling a tennis ball or the ping pong balls. After the 6 minutes are over, you will be given 30 ping pong balls and 1 tennis ball. During the next 2 minutes, you must first roll the tennis ball until it goes through the mouse hole once. You may not push the tennis ball at all. You may only place it on the top edge of the ramp and let it go. After the tennis ball successfully passes through the hole you may remove the tennis ball and start to roll ping pong balls, 1 at a time into the mouse house until time runs out.

Scoring:

2 points for every inch over 6" high
10 points if you can roll the tennis ball through the mouse hole without breaking your house.
3 points for each ping pong ball that can be contained within the house, up to 30.
12 points for Creativity of the design of the mouse house
8 points for Creativity of the use of materials
8 points for (maximum) Number of types of materials used (1 point per material)
12 points for Teamwork

Set Up:

Must be on a flat surface. Tape an 18" square with masking tape and a line 18" from the front edge of the square. The entire ramp must be placed behind the line. The ramp must be made of a piece of 2 x 4, about 6" high and an 8" piece of cove molding wide enough to hold a tennis ball.