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Engineering Fun with Gears!
- Gabrielle Fischer Posted On Aug 10, 2017 | STEM
Gears Building Challenge Cards
Gears! Gears! Gears! Gears are one of the best STEM learning toys young children can use. They encourage creative problem solving, spatial recognition, understanding of cause and effect, and so much more. All things that young engineers need to learn! Here are some ideas to build on (pun intended!) gear play plus a downloadable set of fun Gears Building Challenge Cards.What is a Gear?
A gear is a rotating machine that has teeth along its edges that enable it to mesh with another toothed part. Gears help machines increase speed, change directions, or increase force depending upon the size and configuration of the gears. If you mesh together two or more gears, they are called a train.Go on a Gear Hunt
Gears are used in machines all around us. A fun way to extend learning with gears is to go on a gear hunt with the kids and talk about how they work in real life. Some places to find them are:
- Bicycles - Gears help cyclists go faster without having to spin the pedals at ever-increasing RPMs (rotations per minute). The gears lengthen and shorten the chain changing the size of pedal rotation's effect on the wheel. For example, a low gear may turn the wheel 3/4 of the way around for every pedal rotation. But higher gears might turn the wheel 4x for every pedal rotation.
- Analog clock or watch - Gears do a lot of things in a mechanical watch! Like help store energy from winding and set the rotation rate of the gear wheels which controls how fast the hands move.
- Can opener - Gears are used to increase force to make it easier to cut through the metal in a can.
Where else can you find gears?
Building with Gears
Now it's time to turn all this gear learning fun into a cool building session. Start with some free play with Gears! Gears! Gears! to gets the kids used to how they work. Play around with building flat patterns, building up, and where to put the crank.
Gears Building Challenge Cards
Next up is adding some fun challenges to the kids' gear building play. First, download these Gears Building Challenge Cards.These gears building challenge cards work with any set of the Learning Resources® Gears! Gears! Gears! To build each challenge:
- Pick a card.
- Grab the designated number of gears in each color. The number is noted in the circle on each colored gear.
- Set up your base (any size works).
- Build a machine as high and wide as the challenge requires.
- Repeat if desired as each card can be built many different ways!
Ask Questions to Encourage Creativity
These challenges are a great way to encourage open ended thinking and creative brainstorming. Here are some questions to ask to keep the thought process rolling:
- What do you think will happen if you ____?
- How does this work?
- What is your plan?
- What might change if you do ____?
- How could you ____?
- Are there other ways you could ____?
Links:
- Blog: http://leftbraincraftbrain.com
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/leftbraincraftbrain
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/leftbraincraftbrain
- Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/craftbrain
DIY Gumdrop Christmas Tree
Are you looking for a fun, screen-free activity for your little ones this holiday season? I highly recommend building Gumdrop Christmas Trees! The activity is inexpensive, has minimal setup, and is adored by people of all ages. Who doesn’t like incorporating candy into a project?!
Building structures from toothpicks and gumdrops is an excellent STEM activity incorporating science, learning, and math into play. All you need is a bunch of toothpicks and some spiced gumdrops. I had a hard time finding gumdrops locally (I was shocked since it is Christmas time!), so if you run into that issue, mini marshmallows will also work just as well.
I laid the supplies on the table and told my girls that we would try and build Christmas trees. They are only three and five years old, so they needed some advice on getting started. I explained that they first needed to build a base, and then after that, they would just add to it as they saw fit.
We talked and walked through the base building together. After that, they caught on to the process and began constructing their trees!
As the building continued, the girls would point out if the structure was wobbling, and I would show them how they could add support with more toothpicks.
Finally, all that was left was adding a yellow gumdrop star at the top.
This was a fun project and a wonderful way to incorporate a screen-free STEM activity into the holidays. If your children are a bit older, you can even set up a competition to see who can build the tallest or most elaborate tree. For younger kids, just providing the toothpicks and gumdrops will create an awesome fine motor STEM activity. Regardless of age, this is a fun project to do together as a family. It’s something that both kids and adults are sure to enjoy!
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National STEM Day Activities!
Host a STEM-tastic Playdate to Celebrate November 8!
Invite the whole crew over for National STEM Day this November 8th with a science-, technology-, engineering-, and math-themed playdate!National STEM Day began in 2015, as our nation began to recognize that STEM-centered careers were growing 70 percent faster than other occupations. Research has shown the introduction of STEM concepts to children can improve their social and emotional development, as well as their rational thinking skills.
STEM really goes beyond conveying knowledge from teacher to student. Kids learn problem-solving, critical thinking skills, and collaboration with their peers. Connections are made between school, community, and home that seem to stick. The real-life implications of STEM pull together ideas that teach children that what they learn, as well as the ideas they share, benefit our world as a whole.
Let’s bring together all these concepts into a big, fun playdate. With the help of Learning Resources’ STEM-centered products, we engineered an engaging afternoon with our friends, completely screen-free.(And another beauty of STEM? It knows no age. If little brothers and sisters want to join in on the fun, the more the merrier!)We sent out invites, had our friends over, and made an afternoon of activities!
STEM Station #1: Botley
Spread out on the living room floor for our first STEM Station was Botley. This little coding robot lives up to its reputation for out-of-the-box fun. From the first moment Botley lit up and began chatting with our friends, it was love at first code.
With just a quick skim of the directions, the friends were coding in minutes. Before we knew it, Botley was pushing around blocks and racing toward the finish line.
A solid 45 minutes was spent at the Botley station, as the friends took turns sending Botley backwards and in circles. (It was hard to tear the kids away to move to the next station, but our playdate clock was ticking.)
STEM Station #2: Beaker Creatures
Our friends moved from the floor to the kitchen table to discover the fizzy, funny wonder of the Beaker Creatures Reactor Pods. Each mysterious pod is filled with an alien traveler. Who were they going to discover?Each individually wrapped pod comes with a classification card that will help our friends figure out who is who.Time to drop in our first discovery.
As they waited and watch the water foam, the friends tried to figure out which alien could be lurking in the inky waters.
All set! Who did we get?
Filling out the identification card made the friends feel like they were classifying new species from out of this world.
And soon one bowl was not enough. Let’s dissolve more! Who can we add to our collection?
STEM Station #3: Coding Critters
We set up an additional folding table in the family room to accommodate all our scientists, technicians, engineers, and mathematics for more STEM-tastic discoveries. Station #3 included the Rumble and Bumble, the adorable Coding Critters. Similar to Botley, Rumble and Bumble are screen-free, coding fun. The Coding Critters come with a storybook. First things first, the older friends read to the younger ones about with whom they were about to play.
Rumble and Bumble’s playset was fun to set up, but even more fun to knockdown. Once the friends figured out how to get Rumble moving, the crashing began!
The Coding Critters have a “code mode” and a “play mode”. In the play mode, our friends began to interact with Rumble like it was a real live pet! There were even challenges in the storybook…one was how to teach Rumble to have a snack with Bumble.
Like all awesome playdates, our time had to end. But the afternoon of STEM-centered fun will not soon be forgotten!Happy National STEM Day!
Save it for later!
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10 Incredible Things Robots Can Do
Happy Robotics Week! We have a fun list here that will make you say "Robots do WHAT?!"Once the stuff of futuristic fantasies, robotics has really come into its own! From cooking dinner to performing surgery, robotic capabilities are rapidly expanding far beyond the auto assembly line and into trades and tasks that once seemed impossible. Read on for a summary of some of the surprisingly helpful things robots are doing right now and be amazed!
Believe it or not, robots can:
Cook!
Choose a recipe from the programmed library and Moley Robotics’ Robotic Kitchen will make it for you – from measuring and mixing ingredients to baking, broiling, simmering, and stirring.
Outrun You!
A mechanical cheetah built by the engineers at MIT tops out at speeds close to 30 m.p.h. This cruisin’ kitty is designed to help with search and rescue efforts in disaster areas that are not smooth enough for wheeled robots.
Fly the Friendly Skies!
Drones are robots, too, and they’re working all over the world, doing everything from delivering blood to monitoring Australia’s shorelines for sharks.
Help You See Better!
Robots can turn a series of numbers into prescription eyeglasses, all in less than an hour!
Prep Your Meds!
From pharmaceutical prescriptions to prepping IVs, these nurse bots are rolling behind the scenes in pharmacies and hospitals. Since there is so much that goes into keeping people healthy, this is a huge help in the medical field!
Make Music!
Brain.fm’s tunes are designed – by robots – to be in synch with your brain waves while making some awesome beats.
Shape You Up!
Personal trainer bots are leading exercise sessions with the elderly. They even monitor participants and can detect correct body position.
Read Your Mood!
A companion robot named Pepper is programmed to read facial expressions and respond accordingly with songs to match your vibe, supportive comments, and more.
Make Deliveries!
Robots are delivering everything from online orders to room service.
Perform Surgery!
Medical facilities including the famed Mayo Clinic use robotics to operate on patients. Using robotics provides “more precision, flexibility, and control than is possible with conventional techniques."
Some may worry that the increasing capabilities of robotics will eventually eliminate some human responsibilities, yet remember that these machines are nothing without the human element of programming. Start your kiddo down the path to programming today with Botley the Coding Robot!
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