Search Results

Make your own spin art device using an old record player! Notice patterns and effects the spinning movement has on your work. When finished, post your work to the Spin Art Gallery!

Create beautiful spirals by drawing a straight line. This sounds crazy, but you can with a turntable (a record player or lazy susan), paper, and pen.

In this engineering activity, learners explore simple machines and then build cardboard automata using cams.

In this design challenge activity, learners build a tower that’s at least 12 inches high with two or more parts that move (spin, sway, or flap) in the wind.

In this engineering design challenge, learners animate a facial expression and make a machine (zoetrope) that plays the animation back.

Learn how to make and fly a paper helicopter! This simple activity includes a template (for the copter "blades") and instructions for folding, flying, and testing designs.

In this activity, learners build small animated toys that move.

In this activity, learners build a mini crank machine to make a bird "fly." This engineering activity introduces learners to automata, rotational motion, cranks and cams.

Learn about friction and kinetic energy with this cool spinning toy.

Experiment with friction and make bearings for a whirligig! This activity is a nice introduction to friction and bearings and demonstrates why bearings are useful for spinning.

The Drawing Board consists of a marking pen that remains stationary and a platform that swings beneath the pen, acting as a pendulum.

In this activity, learners build their own sound machines and explore the interplay of motion and sound.

In this activity, learners explore the concept of rotational equilibrium. Learners work in teams to estimate and determine the force within a mobile design.

In this activity (page 95 of the PDF), learners create Escher Staircase models similar to those that were used by Neurolab's Spatial Orientation Team to investigate the processing of information about

In this activity (posted on April 18, 2011), learners follow the steps to construct a zoetrope, a device that produces an illusion of action from a rapid succession of static pictures, using a 16" bik

Everybody loves boomerangs! In this activity about force and motion, the learners will experiment with boomerangs and explore how they work. This is a great activity to get learners up and moving.

In this activity (posted on March 27, 2011), learners follow the steps to construct a mini zoetrope, a device that produces an illusion of action from a rapid succession of static pictures.

A design challenge that takes paper airplanes into an entirely different direction: a magnus glider uses cups and and rubber bands to create a glider that uses the same forces that a curveball (from b

Create your own spinning top, and explore color, shapes and spinning. This activity contains instructions for making your spinning top, and tips on how to design and decorate it.

In this activity, learners build a carousel toy that spins when pushed down.