Montague Soap Box Derby for Youth
Sunday, Sept 22nd, 2013

Wondering what a Soap Box Derby is? According to Wikipedia, it’s “a youth soapbox car racing program which has been running in the United States since 1934.” Read about the history of the Soap Box Derby on Wikipedia.

The 4th annual Montague Soap Box Derby is coming up!  The event will take place on September 22nd on 1st Street in Turners Falls, at the top of the Unity Park hill.  There are three age brackets (8-12yo; 13-19yo; 20+yo.), and participants should race homemade cars with a minimum of three wheels and no motorized propulsion.

Designing, building, and racing a car can provide a multidisciplinary hands-on learning experience for kids, making math and science fun and would be an excellent project to work on this summer! Designing a car requires some basic math, engineering, and design skills, and executing a plan means learning how to use basic tools.  The race itself is a physics lesson – racers will learn how to utilize the slope of the hill paired with the size and weight of their car to accomplish the fastest speed possible.

Western Reserve Public Media in Ohio has made available a comprehensive teacher’s guide (pdf) designed for 5th & 6th grades called Masters of Gravity which could serve as a curriculum tool for the Soap Box Derby in Montague, MA.

For more information or to register, call 413-320-5336 or visit montaguesoapboxraces.com.  Deadline to enter for this year Sept 2nd!