What: Invention Convention Simple Machines
When: Friday, Feb 4, 2011 10 AM to 12 PM
Where: Symmes Township Library 11850 Enyart Rd. Loveland, Ohio 45140
Who: Homeschoolers of all ages. Children 12 and under will be expected to have a parent/responsible adult on premises with them during activities, Teens 13 and up may be dropped off.
RSVP: Laura Riesenberg

The Idea---There are six simple machines: the pulley, the screw, the wheel and axle, the incline plane, the lever and the wedge. The goal of our project is to combine simple machines to make a marble maze. Each child or team will start with a similar sized cardboard background and will create a maze with the goal being that it takes the LONGEST amount of time for their marble to get through their maze. Once the mazes are assembled we will have each person/team run a marble through their maze and time them. The person/team with the longest time will WIN......the kids really seemed to enjoy the "testing" part when we built the bridges, hopefully this will go as well as that did!

If your child hasn't been exposed to simple machines, you may want to spend a little time explaining them so that they can use them in their maze.

Please bring any items with you that your child might want to incorporate into their machine. Suggestions from the original website (that I can no longer find since our computer crash) were:
Toilet paper rolls
Paper towel rolls
Pine Cleaners
Paint Stirrers
Molding Clay
Sting
Spools
Coffee Stir Sticks
Tape (duct tape, masking tape, clear tape)

I am going to try to find similar sized pieces of cardboard (I am thinking roughly 24"x36") and will let everyone know by Wednesday if I can get those for everyone. If not, Hobby Lobby has their foam core boards and project boards 50% off this week.

I will provide: glue guns w/glue, scissors, yarn, marbles

Any questions, please ask!

Laura