Unit Plan 26 (PreK Science): Weather Engineering – Build a Shelter
PreK engineering unit where children design, test, and improve toy shelters to protect from rain, wind, or sun using hands-on building and revision.
Focus: Design and improve simple shelters that protect toys from rain, wind, or sun through building, testing, and revising.
Grade Level: PreK
Subject Area: Science (Engineering Design • Weather & Safety)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 30–45 minutes per session
I. Introduction
In this playful engineering unit, children become “weather helpers” who design a small shelter for a toy (animal, person, or car) so it can stay safe during rain, wind, or hot sun. Children explore what shelters do (cover, block, hold steady), then build with classroom materials, test with simple “weather” tools (spray bottle for rain, fan for wind, flashlight for sun), and notice what happens.
Across the week, children practice the core engineering habits of build → test → improve by making changes when a shelter falls over, leaks, or doesn’t block the weather. The unit ends with a short “Shelter Showcase” where children explain what they built and how they improved it.
Essential Questions
- How does a shelter help keep something safe during different kinds of weather?
- What happens to a shelter when we add rain, wind, or bright “sun” (light)?
- How can we change a design to make it work better after we test it?
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Children will be able to:
- Describe a simple problem (a toy needs protection from rain, wind, or sun).
- Build a simple shelter using classroom materials (blocks, cardboard, fabric, tape).
- Test the shelter using a teacher-guided “weather test” and describe what happened using words or gestures (wet/dry, fell/stayed, covered/not covered).
- Make at least one change to improve the shelter after testing (stronger base, bigger roof, more supports).
- Share their design with a simple explanation: “My shelter helps because it ____.”
Standards Alignment — PreK (NGSS-based custom)
- PK-ETS1-2 — Build and test simple structures using a variety of materials.
- Example: Build a toy shelter with blocks and cardboard, then test it with “rain” or “wind.”
- PK-ETS1-3 — Make changes to improve a design after testing.
- Example: Add a wider roof or stronger supports after the first test fails.
Success Criteria — Student Language
- I can build a shelter for my toy.
- I can test my shelter with rain, wind, or sun.
- I can tell what happened: “It stayed dry / It got wet / It fell / It stayed.”
- I can fix it by changing something to make it better.
- I can show my shelter and say how it helps my toy.