Box of built models
On the table, laid out in three columns. A child picks one up rather than reading it.
Make
Examples
The example board asks Can you make it move? and answers it in three moves: wheels and an axle, an elastic band, a balloon. Check it before the doors open and rebuild it only if it is damaged. Click the photograph to enlarge it.
Techniques
Two chassis and three drives, drawn separately so a child combines them rather than copying a finished car.
Wheels, axle and a body
Wheels and axle
Seen from above. A skewer or a dowel, with a wheel pushed on to each end.
Chassis A, lolly sticks
Two sticks crossed, a straw taped across each end. The axles run in the straws.
Chassis B, a bottle or a jar
Skewers pushed straight through a bottle. On a jar they are taped along the underside.
Three ways to make it go
Elastic band
Seen from above. A band round the narrow axle, hooked over a stick laid across the triangle. Winding it stores the turn.
Balloon
The neck stretched over a straw and taped. The air leaves at the far end.
Elastic band fan
The bottle top cut into petals, on a band running the length of the body to a peg at the tail.
The fan drive does not run yet. A child may try
it on the day, and it is not expected to go.
Steps
- Pick a body from the junk bank. A lolly stick chassis, or a bottle or jar.
- Get the wheels turning. An axle through a straw taped underneath, caps for wheels.
- Give it a drive, one of the three: an elastic band, a balloon or a band-driven fan.
- Run it, and change one thing.
It rolls at step 2, which is about ten minutes.
Steps 3 and 4 are where the time goes, and a vehicle that only rolls is still a finished one.