Materials list:

Help your child find these materials or a close substitute: 

• 2 large cooking or serving spoons (try different spoons to find a suitable combination—see video)
• Tape
• Small bite-sized food (popped corn, mini marshmallows, carrot slices, etc.)
• A heavy book
• A heavy(ish) ball (baseball, large bouncing ball, lacrosse ball, etc)
• Furniture for ramp building (table, chair, stack of books, large box, etc.)
• Cardboard ramps (long strips cut from boxes)
• FOR ADULT USE: box cutter or serrated steak knife for cutting cardboard

Activity Steps:

Use these to keep your innovator on track as they create: 

1. 1. Find at least one other person to help you with this project challenge. Be collaborative every step of the way by saying  “Yes and…” to each other’s ideas as you create and test your crazy contraption.
   2. Find suitable spoons for the fulcrum and lever.
   3. Connect the spoons using tape.
   4. Test the tape connection to make sure it will hold.
   5. Secure the spoon launcher to the floor with a tape hinge.
   6. Test the hinge to make sure it will hold.
   7. Position a book so it falls onto the launcher to launch the popcorn.
   8. Secure the book to the floor with a tape hinge.
   9. Test the hinge to make sure it will hold and confirm that the book still launches the popcorn..
   10. Create a ramp that carries a ball to knock over the book.
   11. Secure the ramp to the furniture with tape.
   12. Add more ramps, repeating the testing and taping process for EACH section.
   13. Use your Rube Goldberg Machine to pass each other popcorn.
   14. Keep testing, redesigning, and building on each other’s ideas until you have a multi-step machine that is robust and reliable.

Guiding Questions:

If your child is stuck, try asking these questions to help them keep on innovating: 

• What is (or has been) working in your design?
• Walk me through your design plan. What is supposed to happen and where is the machine breaking down?
• How might you redesign your machine to make it work better? Do you need different materials? Different placement? Different taping techniques?
• Which of these three big ideas could you use to get unstuck: 1. One step at a time. 2. Testing 3. Tape everything down securely?

More Ideas:

Every project presents opportunities to add your own twists or extensions. Here are some ideas to get you started: 

• Cut lots of long cardboard pieces to make plenty of ramps. More ramps = more opportunity for interesting ideas.
• Step it up—Add another element to the machine. What might knock the ball into the ramps? Consider another falling book, something that swings, etc
• Keep innovating! Check out other Rube Goldberg Machines for inspiration. Here is one of our favorites.

Wrap Up Questions:

Lock in the learning by asking your child these questions about their project and how they practiced the featured Innovator’s Mindset element: 

• What part of your machine are you most proud of? How did you get that part to work?
• What has this project taught you about design and testing?
• Tell me about a moment when one of you built upon the other person’s idea. How did being collaborative change the path of your design?

The last step in the Gallieo Innovator’s Process is SHARE. Great learning can come from sharing successes and failures—to solidify your own experience as an innovator and to inspire others.

SHARE WITH galileo

Take a video of your kid’s Rube Goldberg Machine (submissions of slomo failed catches in the mouth gladly accepted) and share it with the Camp Galileo Anywhere Facebook Community.

Share with family and friends

Your innovation doesn’t stop with you. Inspire someone else by sharing your project challenge—maybe they’ll try it themselves or maybe your project will give them a new idea.

• Who: someone in your house, a family member, a friend
• How: in person, on the phone, online
• When: anytime, starting now!