Make it Move

Create an "exploding" craft stick reaction.
Make two simple pulleys, and use them to move objects.
Make a lever by creating a seesaw using a spool and a wooden paint stirrer. Explore the way it balances by placing different objects on each end.
Do one of the following:

(a) Draw a Rube Goldberg-type machine. Include at least six steps to complete your action.

(b) Construct a real Rube Goldberg-type machine to complete a task assigned by your den leader. Use at least two simple machines and include at least four steps.

Materials

Office/ School Supplies

Kitchen Supplies

Household Supplies

Heavy book
Small weights or other objects
empty paper towel tube
empty toilet paper tube
String

Art/ Craft Supplies

empty bobbin or spool
washi or decorative tape
At least 20 large wooden craft sticks (DO NOT buy the ones from Walmart, they are extremely low quality. Many were completely unusable - bent, broken, bowed, brittle)
¼” dowel
Package of Model Magic
String
Paint stirrer
2” cut piece of PVC pipe

Exploding Sticks - 3 Ways

Cobra Weave

Exploding Boomerang

Stick Bomb

Pulleys

Desktop Flagpole

Our desktop flagpole is a single fixed pulley. A fixed pulley like does not give you any mechanical advantage (a.k.a. reduce the load), but it will make it easier to lift since it lets you pull down instead of lift up.

Materials:

☐ ¼” dowel,

☐ clay,

☐ 2 binder clips,

☐ 2’ string,

☐ flag,

☐ scissors,

☐ tape

Press the clay around the dowel to make it stand up straight.
Attach the binder clips at the top and just above the clay. Flip the arms of the clips out so that they stick out together.
Run the string through the metal loop-arms on each clip and tie to make it a taut loop.
Cut out the flag - if you want to print one in color on a cardstock visit: https://bit.ly/2WeZOBr - or scouts are welcome to make their own
Cut a ¼” - ½” diagonal slit from each corner of the flag that will be on the string.
Slip the cut ends of the flag over the string.

Optional: You can use tape to close the slits on the flags so it will stay on the string better.

Pull on the string to raise your flag

Copy our graphic to the left for a color version of the flag! Or, create your own.

Simple Pulley

Materials:

☐ Rolling pin with handles,

☐ String,

☐ Heavy book

Directions:

Wrap the end of the string around the book a couple of times and then tie it snugly.
Place the book on the floor and use the string to lift the book with one hand.
Now, have a partner hold the rolling pin tightly by the handles at chest height.
Loop the string over the top of the rolling pin.
Use the string to pull the book up.
Which way of lifting the book was easier? Did one way take more strength than the other?

Make a Toy Elevator

This activity is just for fun and can be made with items you probably have around the house (it would probably work well wtih any tall cyclinder like a Pringles can or mailing tube). It is fun but is definitely going to need adult assistance. The materials are not in the box, but you probably have them. I did not use a ruler to assemble this. “Eyeballing it” will be perfectly fine. I added some measurements as a guide. If you have two toilet paper tubes you can make your car a bit taller (perhaps tall enough to transport a Lego minifig?).

Materials:

☐ empty paper towel tube,

☐ empty toilet paper tube,

☐ scissors, ☐ tape, ☐ toothpick,

☐ push pin,

☐ pencil,

☐ string,

Optional:

☐ empty bobbin or spool,

☐ washi or decorative tape,

☐ 2 small rubber bands,

☐ ruler

Directions:

Prep the Elevator Shaft:

Mark a “door” at the base of your elevator shaft (a.k.a. Paper towel roll). It does not have to be perfect but no taller than you will make your elevator car. Mine is about 1 ½” tall by 1” wide.

Make as many similar sized openings as you want in line with the bottom door. These will be the “floors” where we can see the passengers. Tip: Use a push pin to start the hole and then enlarge it with a pencil tip. Then you can get your scissors in there

Build the Elevator Car:

2. Cut the toilet paper roll in half. One half will be the “car.” The other half will be used to fashion a roof and floor.

The Walls: Cut one of the halves up the length so it will spring open a bit. Trim almost half the length away. Tip: Before you cut fit it inside the elevator shaft near the opening so you can mark how much to cut away. You want the car opening to be wider than the shaft openings so the corners do not hang up. I cut mine almost completely in half.

The Roof: From the remaining half cut a ½” strip from the top of the circle. So you have a smaller circle. Snip it in half length wise. Fit it inside the elevator shaft so that it is a smaller circumference and will be able to move freely. Tape it together so now you have a smaller ½” high circle.
From the remaining half (that you trimmed the ½” from). Snip it in half and flatten it out. Place the newly created roof loop on it and trace two circles. Cut them out.
Tape one of the circles to the ½” loop to finish the roof.

Take the wall piece and wrap it around the ½” loop piece and secure with tape.
Attach the Cable: Flip it over. Take your push pin and make a hole in the center of the roof. Expand the hole with a toothpick and then a pencil so that it is large enough to pass your string through.

- - Tie a knot in the end of the string that is large enough not to slip through the hole you just made. Pull the string up so the knot is resting on the underside of the roof and it is out of the way.
- The Floor: Take the second and remaining cardboard circle and tape it to the bottom of your elevator car.
- Add tape all around as needed to make the car secure.

Assemble the Elevator: Drop the elevator car into the elevator shaft with the string coming out the top.
Use the toothpick set across the radius of the top of the elevator shaft to find the center and use a pencil to mark where you will make your holes.
Use the push pin to make holes under the centerline marks. Mine were about ¼” down.

6. Final Options: Your elevator will work perfectly fine by inserting the toothpick across the elevator shaft and wrapping the string around it to move it up and down.

- Notch the back of the shaft so that the string can be pulled evenly.

- If you want it to be more pulley-centric add the bobbin or spool to the toothpick. Use tape wound around itself or rubber bands to help the bobbin stay centered.
- Wind the string around the bobbin so that it lays over the top and points to the rear of the elevator shaft.
- This option will provide a smoother elevator experience but will probably require a little tinkering to get it just right.

Levers

What’s a lever? That’s a fancy term for the science that makes a playground seesaw work. The fulcrum is the hinge or balancing point. The lever is the board.

Materials:

☐ Paint stirrer,

☐ Pencil,

☐ Ruler,

☐ Spool or 2” cut piece of PVC pipe,

☐ Tape or Rubber band,

☐ Small weights or other object

Directions:

Find the middle of the paint stirrer and mark it with the pencil.
Hold the pipe on the line you just drew.
Tape the pipe to a surface or lay the rubber band over the paint stirrer and loop it over each end of the spool. (This will hold the pipe and paint stirrer together.)

Congratulations! You’ve just made a lever! Now, experiment with it by adding weights or other objects to each end. How easy is it to get the lever to balance? What happens if the weight on one end is too heavy?

After you’ve played with your lever for a while, move the spool closer to one end of the paint stirrer. How does that change the way the lever works? Do you see why levers can be useful tools?

Rube Goldberg

Who is Rube Goldberg?

Rube Goldberg (1883-1970) was a Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist best known for his zany invention cartoons. He was born in San Francisco on the 4th of July, 1883 – and graduated from U. Cal Berkeley with a degree in engineering. Rube Goldberg is the only person ever to be listed in the Merriam Webster Dictionary as an adjective. It’s estimated that he did a staggering 50,000 cartoons in his lifetime. For videos about Rube: https://www.rubegoldberg.com/about/ .

What is a Rube Goldberg Machine?

A Rube Goldberg Machine is “a comically involved, complicated invention, laboriously contrived to perform a simple operation.” Humor and a narrative are what separate a Rube Goldberg machine from a chain-reaction machine. Each of Rube’s cartoon’s told a story and his entire goal was to get you to laugh.

Machine Ideas: Shut a door, Make a ball go in a hole, Fire a projectile, Knock something off a table

Materials: Anything, everything! Bonus points for silly!

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