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Lesson 1 of 84 ยท Simple Machines

Lessonโญ 30 XP๐Ÿ› ๏ธ Engineer Shop

Push and Pull!

Push and Pull!
๐ŸงชLab Brief #1

Simple Machines.

๐ŸŽฏ Your mission

Learn the rule. Then catch nature using it.

โšก The twist

The first design always fails. That's the point.

๐Ÿคฏ

Mind = Blown

๐Ÿš€ The Saturn V rocket burned 20 tons of fuel per second at liftoff.

๐Ÿ”ฎ

Make a hypothesis first

Guess: what's the weakest part of this build?

What You'll Learn

A push moves things away from you. A pull brings things closer. Can you push a toy car across the table?

Key Words

  • push
  • pull

Steps

Step 1 โ€” Read

Have a grown-up read about Simple Machines to you.

Step 2 โ€” Do

Push a toy car gently, then push it hard. Which push made it go farther?

Step 3 โ€” Observe

Look closely! What do you see?

Step 4 โ€” Record

Draw a picture of what you learned today.

Check Your Understanding

Question 1

1 of 3

What makes a ball roll?

๐ŸŒ

Where you see this in real life

Your phone, your bike, your shoes โ€” all designed with this idea.

๐Ÿ†

Stretch Challenge

Try this in real life this week.

Build something โ€” anything โ€” out of stuff in your recycling bin.

๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€๐Ÿ‘ง

For the dinner table

โ€œWhat's something around the house you'd redesign โ€” and how?โ€

๐ŸŽฏ

Next Smart Experiment

We'll pick an experiment that matches exactly how you're thinking right now.

๐ŸชจShare card

Share this experiment

Send it to a parent who's looking for a 10-minute kitchen science win.

๐Ÿ–จ๏ธ

Checkout complete lesson on Simple Machines for Pre-School

Get the full Simple Machines track as a printable PDF โ€” all lessons, worksheets, and answer keys.

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