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Rhythm Painting
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In this activity, early learners create paintings by making music and rhythm. Learners place paper in cans, add paint-soaked beans (or pebbles) and put the tops on.

Floating Head Cup
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In this activity, learners watch a figure "magically" float up through the air.

Roller Ball Painting
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This is an activity in which learners explore the effects of gravity, motion and momentum while creating art.

Puppet Power
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In this mechanical engineering activity, learners design shadow puppets with moving parts and use them to tell stories.

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

Cup Draw (Low Tech)
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In this activity, learners construct drawing machines using a cup, some markers, and a battery pack. The markers act as "legs" for the machine, making a drawing that records as it moves.

Kinetic Sculpture
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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.

Chirping Bird
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In this activity, learners build a cuica or chirping bird using straw, string, and a bottle cap. Use this activity to explore the interplay of motion and sound.

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

Cranking Bird
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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.

Make a Mobile!
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In this activity, learners make mobiles to explore the concepts of balance, counterbalance, weight, and counterweight.

Bearings for Your Whirligig
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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.

Lever Cowboy
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In this activity, learners build a figure that moves and "comes to life" when they pull its string.

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

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

Woodpecker
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In this activity, learners construct a traditional handicraft toy that illustrates a motion commonly associated with violins and earthquakes.

Get It Write
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In this activity, learners explore how pens have been engineered and re-engineered over time. Learners work as a team to develop a working pen out of everyday items.

Building a 3-D Space Maze: Escher Staircase
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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

Fishy Observations
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In this activity (page 1 of the PDF under SciGirls Activity: Rabbits), learners will visit a zoo, aquarium, or pet store to view a variety of fish.

Kites
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This activity (on page 2 of the PDF under SciGirls Activity: Kites) is a full inquiry investigation into how a kite’s shape affects its performance.