The Bridge Challenge

The school fair was on Friday. Jack, Rose and Daniel wanted to enter the bridge challenge. They had to make a small bridge from card. It had to hold a toy car. “Let’s build it outside,” said Rose.

They put two blocks on a table in the school garden. Jack laid a flat strip of card across the gap. Daniel rolled the car onto it. The card bent in the middle. The car slid down.

Jack added another strip over the first, hoping the extra card would make the bridge stronger. When they tried the car again, the bridge still bent. Rose looked at the pile of card. “We cannot keep adding strips,” she said.

Rose picked up a leaf beside the table. It had a fold down the middle. “Look at this,” she said. “What if we fold our card?” Daniel held the leaf flat. Then he let it fold again. “Let’s try,” he said.

They folded a new strip of card back and forth until it looked like a row of little hills. Jack laid it across the blocks. Although the folded card held the car up, one end of the bridge slipped off a block. They had solved one problem, but another remained.

“The folds help, but the ends can still move,” said Daniel. While Rose held the bridge in place, Jack taped each end to a block. Daniel rolled the car across to test whether the tape would stop it slipping. It reached the other side, and the friends smiled at each other.

At the fair, a younger student stopped at their table. “Can I try?” she asked. Rose passed her the car. The student rolled it over the bridge. “Did it work the first time?” she asked. “No,” said Jack. “We changed our plan.”

Daniel showed her the flat card and the folded card. “We tested both,” he said. The student looked at the folds. “I want to make one too!” Rose gave her a strip of card. “Let’s see what you can build,” she said.