earthquake proof building project for kids?

I did a project with my niece where we put small figures of people inside a shoebox and placed it on a table...then shook the table side to side to simulate an earthquake. The figures fell over.

Then we placed the shoebox on top of some marbles held in an area the size of the box with modeling clay and shook the table again. The box was allowed to slide around a bit and more of the figures were left standing up. You might have to play around with the amount of marbles or the frictional quality of the table to box interface to get the desired results but it shows how some small buidings can be made to resist earthquakes. Some buildings are also mounted on huge springs to resist earthquakes....the structures at NORAD in Cheyenne Mountain have that type of setup to avoid damage from a nuclear blast and the resulting ground tremors.

You might also construct a builiding of simple square walls with popsicle sticks and shake it on a table to see how it reacts. Then build another building where the walls are diagonally braced and see how tall you can build each one...shaking it at various levels...to see how bracing affects the structual integrity. How does a low, flat building compare to a taller building? How do materials affect the building?

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/p...

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Do you have a big enough budget to build and simulate the quake movements ? Also, part of quake damage is structure shift, particularly with stone / brick and mortar buildings . . . and some is sinking due to liquefaction of areas that are fill, especially around wet lands. good luck !