Ramps & Pendulums
Playing with ramps is a great way for children to explore physics. It’s the perfect, open-ended project that can grow with your child and engage siblings of different ages. Cal, at less than two years old, currently enjoys the simplicity of repeatedly rolling cars through a propped-up shipping tube or down a flat, wide piece of wood. Some of my five year old students have enthusiastically used similar materials to build elaborate, challenging marble runs or car ramps with twists and turns and specific goals about where they want the object to end up. And, of course, there’s so much to create in between those two extremes.
Ideas for materials:
-cardboard shipping tube(s)
-plastic rain gutters from Lowe’s or Home Depot (Click here for example. Less than 5 bucks for a 10ft piece. I recommend cutting it in half in the store.)
-Anything that rolls and fits your ramps: marbles, matchbox cars, wiffle balls, tennis balls, etc.
-metal bowl for cars/marbles to either hit or land in (the noise delights them and gives immediate feedback)
-blocks for creating barriers, landing zones, or to prop up ramps
I LOVE this marble ramp! Watch closely…
Above, the children roll wiffle balls down the ramp while another child tries to trap the balls using cones.
