Rube Goldberg Machines

This is one of my all-time favorite school-age programs. I've done it three times now over the past few years and it's always delightful.

The game Mouse Trap is a Rube Goldberg Machine

And, even better, it doesn't take a ton of prep! I admit, it sounds intimidating, but I *promise* it's really super easy!

First off, what IS a Rube Goldberg machine? Rube Goldberg was an artist (cartoonist) who also had a degree in engineering. He is known for designing incredibly complicated machines that do a very simple task. So a Rube Goldberg machine is a really complicated way of doing something simple--many of us probably played the game Mouse Trap (or at least spent forever setting it up and trying to get it to work). You can find out more about him here.

I usually advertise this program for kids in grades 3-6 on their own, or for families to participate together, and hold the program for an hour and a half. I invite adults dropping kids off to come back ten or fifteen minutes early, and then the whole group goes around and views all the machines and talks about what worked/what was a challenge for each machine.

Program Outline:

1. Show some examples 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFWHbRApS3c [Make sure to stop before the final 15 seconds—uncensored swear word, but I like this one since it shows how long it took to get it right]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w Ok Go Music Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWk9N92-wvg Honda Commercial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQGn4wTIFs4 Various Japanese RG Machines

2. Talk about inventions. An invention is something we create that makes life easier or to solve a problem—something no one else thought of before. Well, a Rube Goldberg machine is a kind of invention that actually makes things more complicated. It’s the most complicated way you can think of to do something simple, like ring a bell. Rube Goldberg machines are named after a real person. Rube Goldberg was an artist, and he liked the idea of an invention that made things MORE complicated rather than easier.

Some of the STEM concepts that relate to RG machines that I focus on are chain reactions and potential versus kinetic energy.

3. Explain what the kids are going to do: 

• Tell the kids that their goal is to ring the bell by creating a chain reaction that has three or four distinct parts.

• Suggest that they start at the end and work backward. What will ring the bell? What will happen before that? What happens before that?

• Explain that paper and pencils are available at their tables if they want to create a plan before they start (I have made this optional, as well as done it where they have 5-10 minutes specifically dedicated to brainstorming. I think either way is fine). 

• If you have certain limited items, let them know how much they can use (The first time I did it, I had supplies in separate categories of "only one each" and "as much as  you want" but it really wasn't necessary so I haven't done that since). 

While kids are building, I go around and talk to them about their challenges, and use science words to describe what I see happening, "Oh, I like how you're using an incline to create friction and slow down the speed of the marble so you can control it's trajectory" kind of stuff. When they're having a hard time, I try to refrain from telling them what to do, but say things like, "I wonder what would happen if..." and "I notice that it seems to get stuck at that same spot every time" and let the kids keep figuring it out themselves (this can be hard). 

Program Supplies: 
Supplies vary—basically anything that you can think of; you don’t have to know how they will use it, you just need enough stuff to spark their imaginations and allow for variety. You don’t have to have ‘enough’ of everything except the bells since that’s the goal, and the rolling objects that make the machine work—golf balls and/or marbles. Basically you can just raid your supplies cabinet and put out a bunch of random stuff.

Must haves:

Scrap paper

pencils

Bells (one per kid/group; I just use the round craft bells in various sizes)

Golf balls (one per kid/group)

Marbles (Small dollar store marbles aren't heavy enough, but fine if you also have golf balls)

Dominoes (these get used a LOT, so this might be something you stock up on and/or limit)

Cardboard tubes

Cups of various sizes*

Lego*

*Even these supplies can vary; but you do need a lot of things to provide height and structure

Also haves:

substitute whatever you have around; you just want a lot of variety, and remember: you don't need enough of everything, just a bunch of different stuff available!

Duplo

Ping pong balls

Spools

Straws

Spoons

Rubber bands

Craft sticks

Paper

Various wooden pieces from craft department—flat panels, skewers/dowels etc.

DOES IT WORK? 
Yes! You can see awesome machines created at one of my programs here, here, and here. 

 

Life Sized Chutes and Ladders

This fabulous idea came from Amy at Show Me Librarian. I followed Amy's program to a tee, but I learned some thing will be helpful if I do this program again, or for a larger crowd. First, go read Amy’s post so that what I’m about to write makes any sense.

Like Amy, I had about a dozen participants, but the most I had playing at any one time was about seven. I followed Amy’s tip, and had the kids wear nametags with numbers to make turn-taking easier.

Books for checkout, and the numbered name tags I had players wear

 The big thing I would do differently is that I would make a set of ten LARGE numbered placards for them to wear around their necks. I would skip the names, since I referred to them by their numbers anyway, and I would limit the amount of players in one game to no more than 10. As kids come in, I would have them take a number, 1-10. If more than ten kids arrived to play, the extras would line up ‘on deck’ and would replace the winners as they made it to the end. As each player in the first game makes it to the end, they would hand off their placard to the next kid in line. The winners could be done, or if they wanted to play again they would go to the end of the line. I would keep letting new kids replace winners until it got to the point that the very first winner would start over. At that point, I wouldn’t let any numbers re-enter until we finished the game completely (allowing everyone to make it to the end). Then I would start a new game entirely! 

The thin masking tape connects the spaces to show game direction; the thick masking tape shows ladders, and yarn shows the chutes.

Instead of a physical spinner, I found cool customizable spinner online called Wheel Decide, and used our community room's laptop/projector to make the spinner huge on the wall. I clicked the button to spin each turn, and announced the results, but it was also projected on the wall behind me, so the kids could see it. They really got into the drama of watching the spinner and hoping it was going to land on the color they wanted. It was super awesome fun, and I will definitely use Wheel Decide in the future any time I need to use a spinner. Below I show how to customize it, and here is the finished product that I made.

Easy as 1,2,3!

1. Go to advanced options
2. Choose the color scheme that you want
3. Write in the labels for each space on the spinner. To make sure the colors match the words, use the same word order that is listed in #2
4. Don't forget to name your wheel!

Supplies List:

• Leftover SRP books for prizes (I spread them on a table)
• Candy treats to hand out after the first game, for kids to enjoy while I modified the board
• Masking tape to make the ladders (Need to somehow differentiate from the tape used to show game board direction—I used thick tape)
• Masking tape to connect the spaces/show which direction the board moves in
• Book tape or masking tape to secure the spaces to the floor
• Yarn for chutes
• Library books about games for kids to checkout
• Placards numbered 1-10 for kids to wear around their necks
• Construction paper—12-13 sheets each of red, yellow, green, blue (I collated them ahead of time which was a lifesaver when I was getting set up for the game!)
• Spinner/Laptop, projector, wi-fi to use online spinner
• Optional: cd player for background music.