Fun simple machine project that anyone can teach

Use every day materials to teach basic engineering concepts with this fun home made toy. 

Today we have an awesome guest post from Christy at Engineer to Stay at Home Mom. If you haven't tried making home made toys before, this would be a great first project, and I love how she connects science objectives to real life.

How to do a Lego Engineering Project for Second Grade

"That's so cool. I have to tell Mom!" Over hearing that phrase makes any winter break project a winner on its own, but this LEGO engineering project was also super easy and covers NGSS standard k-2ETS1-2

"Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an objec helps it function as needed to solve a given problem."

Fantastic Kindergarten Science Experiment with Pumpkin

How to Set Up a Pumpkin Engineering Task Your Second Graders Will Love

New Kindergarten to Second Grade Science Unit about Sound!

I am super excited to announce that my second playful science unit, Hear the Wind, is now available on Teachers Pay Teachers. These units have been really fun to do with my own kids! I base them on the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) produced by the National Science Teacher's Association.  All the units use materials  that are easily accessible to the average teacher.  No expensive equipment required!

                               

The main physics principle that I hope teachers and students will grasp from this unit is the connection between physical movement and sound.  Sound waves are classified as physical waves, though that term is not used in the early grades.

Sprinkles Demonstration

 Hear the Wind starts with a fun demonstration experiment that uses sprinkles and standard computer speakers.

This activity ties in with a study of grammar.  My own kids spent most of a Saturday morning playing with the set up.

Pin wheel project

I was nervous about this one.  The standards dictated that students should be able to do this type of project independently, but I wasn't sure.  I should not have worried, my first grader was able to do the modified version without any help and guided his sister as well.

My children used the template to make their pin wheels, but more advanced students could be challenged to follow written directions.

The templates for this project are my current TPT freeby.

Wind Instruments

The major project for this unit requires the students to develop an instrument that can be played by the wind, and write directions for their instrument.

Readers of this blog will not be surprised that we raided our recycle bin for supplies!  

One of my children chose to use metal brads and containers from the recycling bin to make a maraca-like instrument.  He got some excellent practice in revising his design as he discovered that metal cans were too heavy, and that the instrument needed to hot something else in order to sound.

My other child used a glass bottle for her instrument.  Googly eyes are critical, although not part of the prototype.

When they were finished, they recorded directions and used their instruments to signal each other without seeing one another.

This unit also includes a chart to help teachers quickly reference which science, language and math objectives are being covered, printable for the activities, and a PowerPoint that gives a simple explanation of sound and hearing.  Again, the key concept is that sound is a result of physical movement.  This is in contrast to vision which depends on electromagnetic waves.  More important than any particular science fact are the skills of inquiry and engineering that the students build. As a bonus, science fuels interest in language and math.

I have been excited by the positive response from followers and newsletter subscribers who took advantage of the freeby week. Normally, these units sell for $3, but just for this week, Hear the Wind is on sale for $1.50.  Or, you can try just the pinwheel project for free.

Other posts you may like:

Toy Car Physics: Playful Integrated Science Unit for Kindergarten to Second Grade

Passing Down a Way of Life with a Simple Garden Journal

This activity can be used to address the following Next Generation Science Standards 

K-ESS2-1.	Use and share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time

K-ESS2-2.	Construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants and animals (including humans) can change the environment to meet their needs.

We had one next door neighbor when I was a girl.  Miss Evie was already somewhere in her seventies when we moved into our new home in the late nineteen eighties.  I was exactly seven.  She lived in the same home where she had grown up, where she had lived as a young married woman, and cared for her husband and parents as each had left this world.  

I used to get her mail on warm summer afternoons in hopes of being invited into the immaculate 1950's era kitchen she cooled by a cunning system of opening windows in the morning then shutting both windows and curtains as the day wore on.  I would sit bare foot on the red company chair by the door, and we would discuss the health of our cats and the progress of our gardens.  She would tell me stories handed down from her relatives who had lived through the Civil War or of her own experience living through the Great Depression.  Our whole family loved her dearly, and I think that in some ways we filled a spot her own children and grandchildren would have held, if she had had any.  That might be one reason she gave it to my dad.  She might have given it to him because of his love for growing things.

It was an old fashioned notebook filled with careful notes in a squarish antique hand.  Miss Evie's father had kept careful notes about his little farm for years.  He recorded where, when, and what grew , and how he tended it.  For my dad, who was now tending plants in the same location, it was treasury of helpful information.

This spring was our in our new home.  I wanted my children to keep journals based on our yard and garden, but was struggling to get them started.  Then I realized, they were not the ones who needed to keep a journal.  I was.   I grabbed a notebook and started filling it with notes .  I measured some plants, counted blossoms, and wrote down some temperatures and rainfalls.  Soon my kids were eager to join me, and they ask if we can do our. "Garden journal".

Our little journal is not all that amazing, or even organized.  It is a start though.  I hope my kids are learning the importance of paying attention to the natural world around them.   Not just as a fun summer project, but as a way of life. The systematic careful attention to how and why things grow that Miss Evie's dad practiced is a tradition I want to pass on to them.

Today, I am joining some other bloggers in hosting a Nature Observation blog hop.
Take a moment to look at the great ideas from my co-hosts!  As you look through the posts, I hope you can find a few methods that allow you to bring the richness of natural observation into your experience, and that of your children. 

July 2 update.  Now that I've had a chance to look at everyone's post, I'm even a bit more excited.  Check these out!

Suzy Homeschooler This is a must read, especially for those of you who are facing extreme weather like we experienced in the Middle East and in Arizona.

Homeschool Antics A great tutorial on how to turn backyard observation into a full fledged  nature study.

Houseful of Chaos  A lovely reflective approach, with a couple of interesting twists.

Study-at-Home Mama If studying nature is a little overwhelming to you, this post has the practical ideas you need.

Inspiring NH Kids Is showing us a great demonstration of a weather phenomenon we often, face.  I will be coming back to this!

My Blessings Homeschool Ideas for creek exploration.  My kids are going to enjoy this one!

Kid World Citizen A great list of fun hands on ideas.

There's also a multi- topic link-up.   I am looking forward to reading ideas you have for observing nature!

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

Pretend Elevators with Bottle Cap Pulleys

This activity can be used to address the following Next Generation Science Standards

K-2-ETS1-1.	Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
K-2-ETS1-2.	Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.
K-2-ETS1-3.	Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.

Project Recycle! and Create! has provided me with some much needed motivation to do creative projects with my kids this year.  This month's challenge is to make an activity with or for our kids using bottle caps.

We made play animal elevators with operational pulleys.

 My children helped engineer their elevators and enjoyed using them for pretend play when we finished.  It was a fun introduction to a simple machine.

Materials: bottle caps, preferably of a few different sizes

A Box

String 

Glue

Clothes pins

Small play animals

I let my children choose where to place the initial bottle caps, then hot glued them in place.

I tied string to some clothes pins.  They attached the animals.  My daughter put her favorite little turtle in a car made from a candy box.

I originally envisioned a multiple point pulley system, but they were intrigued lifting their animals with just one.  

My son was frustrated that the string kept slipping off of the pulley.  We solved the problem by gluing a larger lid on the outside of the pulley.

This kind of physical play is great for developing an intuitive understanding of physical properties. We also worked in a little problem solving.  I would like to come back to this concept and add some complexity when they are ready.  For today,  they naturaly made it into pretend play, while I slipped off to get dinner.

Lids have provided us with a few other great solutions. Including:

A drain stop  done by the Pony Artist

A lesson in Circular Motion at the Breakfast Table initiated by T-Rex

Check out these projects from my co-hosts.

Sink or Float Experiment by AlterNative Learning

Memory Game by Powerful Mothering

Solar System Model by Still Playing School

Bottle Cap Art by P is for Preschooler

Flower Card by There's Just One Mommy

Pattern Play by Teach Me Mommy

Or do you have a great bottle cap/lid project?  Link it up!

An InLinkz Link-up

Project Recycle! Create!: Egg Carton Boats

It took a couple of weeks, but last weekend we finally got the perfect day at the park.  After a family bike ride/walk  we finished off our morning at the cool stream. They even got to do some wading- and try out their new boats.