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Where would you go for a scavenger hunt for simple machines?


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Any ideas for a good place to go for a scavenger hunt for simple machines? At this time of year, indoors would be preferable but outdoors is a possibility.

 

 

 

Kitchen, bathroom, office/school supplies, house fixtures, tool shed, playground.

 

1. Lever:

- bottle opener

- nailclippers

- tweezers

- clothespin

- guillotine paper cutter

- lightswitch

- nutcracker

- tongs

- scissors

- spray bottle trigger

- garlic press

- using a screwdriver to pry up a paint can lid

- crowbar

- seesaw

- balance scale

- using the claw part on a hammer to pull up a nail

- ladder

- shovel

 

2. Wedge:

- cheese grater

- vegetable peeler

- knife

- axe

- doorstop

- a nail

- push pin

 

3. Inclined Plane:

- ramp

- staircase

- water pipes (inclined to work with gravity to transport water)

- playground slide

- seesaw

- escalator

- slope

 

4. Pulley:

- tape dispenser

- window shade (to raise/lower the shade)

- flagpole

- water well and bucket

- toy truck with a crane or hoist

- tow truck

 

5. wheel and axle

- pizza cutter (wheel is also a wedge for cutting)

- doorknob

- door hinge

- tricycle / bicycle / wagon

- floor fan

- pull-toy with wheels

- wheelbarrow

- reel to a fishing rod

- pencil sharpener

- faucet knob

- ceiling fan

 

6. screw

- nut and bolt

- jar lid

- awl

- vise/clamp with screw

- lightbulb base

- drill bit

 

7. gears

- can opener

- rotary egg beater

- bicycle

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Is this for the kids or for you to find examples?

 

 

This is for the kids - I thought it would be fun to get out of the house and take them somewhere to have them search for examples of simple machines (and I thought they might be more observant in an unfamiliar location), but we could certainly also hunt here at home.

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This is for the kids - I thought it would be fun to get out of the house and take them somewhere to have them search for examples of simple machines.

 

 

Sounds great. Why not do a two parter - around the house and then on the playground?

 

When we did simple machines with our co-op, the kids made an amusement park for Polly Pockets and other assorted small figures. Each of the simple machines was a different ride for the toys made from junk bits, paper cups, string, tape, bits of wood, etc. It was great fun.

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