Exploring Motion

 The last few weeks we have discovered how fascinated the children are by motion and things that move. We have explored a variety of different kinds of motion and so far our favorite is marbles! Here are some of the motion explorations we have been trying! 

Building ramps using the slats.

Spinning Tops

Moving golf balls through the Tilt-a-hole tray

Using magnet balls on old gutters

Following the same idea of motion, we have noticed the children build different kinds of ramps using the wood blocks. This is something they come back to day after day. We take pictures of each ramp and print out the picture so they can recreate it another day. Here are a few of the different ramps we have seen so far: 

This is Alex's ramp. He stacked the blocks to be like a staircase. He would drop the marble from the top stair and watch as it bounced off each step. He noticed the sound the marble made as it hit each level.

This is Matthew's ramp. He built it in front of the block shelf. He built the blocks on the side to stop the marble from bouncing off the ramp. He noticed how the marble bounced off the shelf and came back to him. This brought up the discussion of the angle in which it bounced back at. 

This is Mohammed's ramp. He said it is like the Mackinaw Bridge. He used the blocks to make the "supports" then the slats to make the pathway for the marble to move on. 

This ramp was collectively made by a few students. They wanted to make a tall ramp. They use the large block for the base then the small blocks for the ramp on top.