National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration

Tech Logic

LESSON SERIES

You Can’t Take It 

All With You

GRADES K–5

STUDENT 

ENGINEERING LOG

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Tech Logic

LESSON SERIES

You Can’t Take It 

All With You 

GRADES K–5

STUDENT 

ENGINEERING LOG

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever gone on vacation? Have you ever been camping? What did you pack?

When traveling or exploring away from home, we need to bring supplies with us. The farther 

we go or longer we are gone, the more supplies we need to pack. Early American explorers and 

settlers had to plan for trips that sometimes lasted for years. They also had to plan for a new place 

they didn’t know anything about. 

Today you will learn about how NASA is getting ready to send new explorers 

to other planets, like Mars, and other places in space, like the Moon. You 

will also learn about how early American and western settlers had to use the 

materials around them and how NASA is doing the same thing—but in space! 

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Engagement Activity: Early Explorers 

You are now going to be a part of an exploration team. Your teacher will 

provide your group with the location where you will be traveling. As an 

explorer from long ago, you need to make a plan. What is it like where you 

will be going? What will you need to bring with you? What type of shelter 

will you live in?

Work with your exploration team to answer the questions below:

1. Location: ______________________________________________

2. Describe what it is like at your location: _______________________________________

Draw a picture of the land you will explore:
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3. What kinds of supplies will you need to pack to explore here? 

4. Think about what types of resources might be available where you will be. For example, are 

there any trees? If so, could you cut down the trees and use the wood? What tools would 

you need? List as many resources you can think of that are at your location:

5. You need a shelter to protect your team of explorers. What kind of protection might you 

need? What is the weather like? Are there predators in your location? Write down your 

answers to these questions.
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6. Now that you know what local materials you can use and what you need protection from, 

design a house or some type of shelter to keep you and your exploration team safe. Your 

teacher will tell you the required size of your shelter. Use the space below. Be sure to list 

what materials you will use and what tools you will need, and create a scale to show the 

size of your shelter. Label any doors, windows, or other features.
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Early Explorer Stories

Now it is time to read about different ways explorers and settlers in history used the local 

resources they had available. Answer the questions below after reading the stories assigned 

to you.

7. What materials did the early explorers and settlers you read about bring with them?

8. What local resources did they use? ___________________________________________

9. Compare what you and your team planned to bring and use with what early explorers and 

settlers used. What is different? What is the same? 

Your 

Exploration Team

Early Explorers 

and Settlers
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Activity: Using Local Resources

Now it is your turn to become an astronaut explorer. For 

your mission, you are being sent to Mars. 

Once on Mars, you will use the local resources to build 

a shelter. Your first task will be to create Martian bricks 

from the rocks and soil found on the planet. You and 

your team can also use a few materials and tools you 

brought from Earth. After that, you and your team will 

design and build a shelter using your Martian bricks. For 

the final task, you will test your shelter for maximum 

protection. To do this, you will use a strong light to look 

for leaks in your shelter.

Task 1: Create Bricks for Your Structure

Since you can’t bring everything that you 

need to survive on Mars, you will need to 

create bricks from the Martian rocks and 

soil. You will use these bricks to build a 

shelter and keep yourself and your team 

safe on Mars. Now you are an explorer AND 

an engineer! You were able to bring a few 

materials with you from Earth to help you. 

One item is a binder, which will glue the 

rocks and soil together. Other items include 

aluminum foil and wooden craft sticks, which 

are flat and easy to carry with you on your 

journey.

As you create your bricks, it is important to 

write down the materials you used so you 

can make the bricks again or so someone 

else can make them by following your recipe. 

Engineers always need to write down what 

materials they used, how much they used, 

and how they made something.

1. In a bowl or cup, stir glue into dry sand to 

create the mixture for your bricks. 

2. Write down how much sand and glue you 

used in your engineering log. 

3. You will use ice cube trays as molds for 

your bricks. To make sure your bricks do 

not stick to the ice cube trays, line your 

trays with plastic wrap or spray the trays 

with nonstick spray. Your teacher can 

help you! 

4. Scoop your sand and glue mixture 

into one ice cube tray. Press down on 

your mixture to make sure it is tightly 

packed into each well. Set this batch of 

bricks aside. 

5. Create a second batch of bricks, this time 

using both sand and gravel. In a bowl or 

cup, stir glue into your sand and gravel 

mixture. Optional: mix water into the 

mixture to help bind, as needed. 
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6. Record how much sand, gravel, and glue 

(and water, if used) you used in your 

engineering log. 

7. Scoop this mixture into another lined 

or sprayed ice cube tray. Again, make 

sure your mixture is tightly packed into 

each well. 

8. Let your bricks dry. This may take a few 

days. The more glue you used the longer 

they will take to dry. Your teacher will 

tell you where to put your bricks while 

they dry. You should check on the bricks 

each day. Your teacher might ask you to 

remove the bricks from the molds when 

they are partly dry in order to help them 

dry faster. As your bricks dry, take notes 

and write down your observations in your 

engineering log. 

9. Once dry, carefully remove bricks from 

their molds. Are the bricks all the same 

size? Are they all the same quality? Are 

there gaps between the rocks and sand 

that might allow something to get inside 

your shelter? Record your observations in 

your engineering log. 

Task 2: Design and Build Your Shelter

1. Now that you have building materials, 

it is time for you and your team to build 

a shelter. Before you build your shelter, 

you need to make a plan. Discuss with 

your team. When you are ready, draw a 

design for your shelter in your engineering 

log. Make sure to label the size of your 

shelter and the materials you will use. 

Your teacher may also ask you to measure 

your shelter or to build it to a specific 

size. For your shelter design, follow these 

instructions and any other directions your 

teacher gives you: 

• Do not use glue, tape, or any other 

material to hold your shelter together. 

You can only use the building materials 

given to you (bricks, wooden craft 

sticks, and aluminum foil). If you want, 

you can cut the wooden craft sticks 

and cut or tear the aluminum foil.

• Your shelter needs to have at least 

one doorway, one window, a roof, and 

walls (you can decide on a shelter with 

curved walls that come together at the 

top in a point, like an igloo).

• Your shelter should block the 

maximum amount of light. 

2. Once your team has a design, get the 

design approved by your teacher before 

you start to build.

3. Build your shelter.

4. Measure your shelter. Follow your 

teacher’s instructions for calculating the 

size of your shelter. Complete this task in 

your engineering log.
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Task 3: Test Your Shelter

It is time to test your shelter. Shine a bright light on your shelter and look closely for any places 

where light shines inside. These areas are leaks. If you have any, try to figure out where the leaks 

are coming from and how you might be able to fix them. If there is time, you may have the 

opportunity to make improvements to your shelter and retest. Write down your observations 

about the test and plans for improvements in your engineering log.

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ENGINEERING LOG

Name:

Team Members:

Date:

Brick Construction

List the materials and how much of each material you used to make your bricks.

Batch 1

Material How much did you use?

Batch 2

Material How much did you use?
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Describe the steps you followed to make the bricks, including the equipment you used. If your 

process changed for the second batch of bricks, please write down what you did differently 

as well.

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Observations

Write down your observations as your bricks dry:

Observation 1 How well do you think your bricks will turn out? Why?

Observation 2 Now that your bricks are drying, how do they look? Are they completely 

dry yet, or are they still wet? If so, where are they wet?
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Observation 3

Once you took your bricks out of the molds, describe how they look. Are 

the rocks and sand tightly packed? Are there air holes? If so, is there a 

lot of space between the rock and sand? 

Observation 4

Look at the quality of your finished bricks. Are they all the same size? 

If they are different sizes, why do you think that happened? What 

improvements could you make to create better bricks?

Building Your Shelter

Design your shelter following your teacher’s instructions. List the materials you plan to use and 

make sure to include your structure’s measurements in your design below.

Material How much will you use?
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Shelter Design

Shelter approval signature: __________________________

Shelter Size and Calculations

Follow your teacher’s instructions and complete any needed calculations for your shelter. Show 

your work. Use the measurements you made when you designed your shelter to help you.

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________
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Shelter Quality Control Test

Describe any leaks in your shelter. Where are the leaks? Why? If you want, you may draw an 

image of the leaks. 

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

If you are able to make any improvements to your shelter, do so now. Before you make these 

improvements, write the steps you plan to take here:

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

If you retest, describe your results here:

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________
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SHARE: The last step in any design process is to share results. Your teacher will tell you how 

you will share your design, test results, and any improvements you made to your shelter.

Congratulations! You have taken your first steps toward being a Mars 

explorer. Where will you explore next? 

About This Lesson

Author

April Lanotte

Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum

Denver, CO

In collaboration with the

Space Technology Mission Directorate

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Washington, DC

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to the Wings Over the Rockies Teacher 

Envoys for providing feedback, testing in classrooms, and 

editing this resource.

Image Credits

Cover: Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft approaching Mars—NASA. 

Page 1: Illustration of Mars settlement—NASA. Hiker cartoon—iStock. 

1-1: Explorer cartoon—iStock. 2-1: Astronaut on Mars—Designed by 

Freepik. Back cover: Illustration of Mars settlement—NASA; 

Sand mixture in ice cube tray and student building a structure—April 

Lanotte/NASA; Contour Crafting Robot on the Moon—Behnaz Farahi/

NASA.

Published January 2020

Tech Logic is a lesson series produced by the Space Technology Mission Directorate.

www.nasa.gov Learn more at www.nasa.gov/spacetech.

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