Simple machines

Today was science club at our house. My kids love these get-togethers, however I get a little stressed trying to figure out what our part is going to be and how it will relate to the topic. The topic for this gathering was simple machines. Our family was responsible for the screw/inclined plane. We had a little display to show the different possibilities of inclined planes as seen on a screw, corkscrew and winding a triangle piece of paper around a pencil all of which demonstrate this idea. We also had a piece of fish tank hose wound around and taped to two cans which were duct taped together(for added height) then we placed this structure into green coloured water. When we turned it around while on a slant, it demonstrated how the simple machine - inclined plane -makes it easier to move something with very little effort on the person operating the machine.

Other demonstrations included: gears, pulleys and a wooden model trebuchet(something like this) or catapult like device. One family brought a k'nex gears and cranks tub which was a fun way to build some simple machines. Another family made a homemade pulley device which was used to try and pull a person up off the ground while lying down. It took me a while to realize that the cake a mom brought was shaped as two gears put together....very fun.

After we let off the cola geyser in the front yard, some of the kids watched Bill Nye the Science Guy "Simple Machines".