Sunday, November 11, 2012

Cars, Ramps, and Gravity


I have to admit that I will shamelessly raid the construction site next door (with permission) for their odds and ends. This time we got some sections of pipe to add to the pipes we already had. I was happy because the new pipes were wider than the old ones and they were different lengths. I often use the pipes we have as car ramps by setting them up against a chair outside (that is when the pipes are not taken apart and in the sandbox for the kids to build with.)

 
This time I set up the old pipes and the new pipes beside each other. The kids started by putting the cars down the ramp. Now putting a car down a pipe is not as easy as it sounds! First they needed to notice that the cars needed to be wheels down in order to really go. They noticed that some of the cars went better than other cars and they noticed that sometimes the cars got stuck in the pipe and had to be shaken out! It was all going well but soon the ones without cars started to look for other things to send down the tubes.

They tried pinecones, balls, and even a bowling pin! Some of it worked and some of it didn’t. It was also interesting to watch them notice that some things would only fit down the bigger tube and that they needed to change the angle to make everything slide down faster. They still wanted to stick to the cars by the end of the day since I think they all decided that no matter which tube they used the cars just worked better!    

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