Gravity on a rainy day!

Today we were stuck inside for the day and so I was looking around for activities for the kids to do in what would normally be our outside time. I didn’t want to make a big mess since I have cleared an empty space in our classroom for the kids to dance in one area, go through our tunnel in another area and play with a large exercise ball in another. With all the kids running around I wanted them to be able to play with some toys but I was worried about tripping hazard! So I thought I would set up the PVC pipes I use as car ramps for them to play with in a corner. One problem: I left the pipes outside and it was raining and they were now muddy and I didn’t have time to go wash them. So I went looking around the center for another option for our cars. This is what I came up with. . . .

 

Yup a long storage bin hung over a chair! It worked pretty well except for the moulding at the bottom that stopped some of the cars which annoyed the kids (I used this as a problem solving opportunity and encouraged them to figure out how to get their cars over the lip on their own. They figured out that some of the heavy cars could make it off the ramp)

And then one of the kids decided that they needed to take it up a notch (I tried to get a picture but I didn’t get the camera out in time!) and rolled the exercise ball down which he found would roll to the other end of the room . . . . much better than the couple feet the cars went!!