We are celebrating Rube Goldberg this month, with Rube Goldberg themed play! This is my first time ever doing a Rube Goldberg project with kids, so it should be interesting. I spent the last month collecting online resources and finding many examples of Rube Goldberg machines, as well as tips from other educators. Still with all the background knowledge, I wasn't sure how it would all play out.
Last week I had allowed the kids to play the PBS Goldburger To Go Game in the computer lab, and then they researched some of the simple machines that could be made. Afterwards we watched some of the Rube Goldberg Machine videos. There is an AWESOME video that has served as the main Rube Goldberg Music Video. It will blow your minds...and it gave my kids a ton of motivation!
Today we had Day 1 of our Rube Goldberg play! I asked the children to bring random household items, trinkets, and whatever they could think of to use. Fortunately, many of the students brought a bunch of cool things. I had found many lids that were lacking containers in my cupboards, as well as random things around my house to add to the materials. I also raided my Destination Imagination materials for things like cups, paper clips, straws, etc.
To begin, we had a warm-up. I used one of my Destination Imagination challenges...create a device that can make a ping pong ball travel farther than 6 inches without the ball touching the floor, using 4 index cards, 10 paper clips, 4 straws, 2 labels, 1 clothespin, and 2 rubber bands. It was neat to see all the different ways kids tackled this challenge, and it gave them a way to explore creating a path for a ball. We then went right into our Rube Goldberg exploration. Many students teamed up, but there were some that worked individually. Some are still at the beginning stages of their machine, while others were able to move a bit further. Check out all the fun that was had on Day 1!
I can only imagine it will get more and more awesome each meeting!
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