We have been exploring how we can make our toys move faster down ramps. After exploring different surfaces, the children really like the red magnetic board as it is smooth and they can manipulate it. We found that since there is a hook on the back, we can attach it to the back of a chair. The children put different items under the ramp to see if they could make the toys go faster (different large wooden blocks). This play started with just a couple of the boys working on the ramps, to it becoming almost all of the class extending this game.
The video shows a time sequence of the inquiry.
First you will see how how the ramp looked at the beginning, to at the end when the children added another narrow piece to the bottom to make the ramp have a more specific track. As you watch you will see that some of the children changed their toy cars- some originally had plastic ones, who changed to the wood ones, and some of them found bigger wood blocks, as they found that the extra weight made them faster. Originally the children were just playing with the cars one by one, but by the time the video starts, they were having races. This made the children think about what they had to do to make their cars go faster as they wanted to win. By the end they were so excited to see how far their cars were going, children started making a tunnel for the cars to go through. So instead of it just being about how far the cars were going, it also meant they had to try to make them go straight. They also found that their body force had a "domino" affect when one child fell back, they all fell back. They were practicing their group decision making, cooperation skills and thinking skills all while having so much fun!
The video shows a time sequence of the inquiry.
First you will see how how the ramp looked at the beginning, to at the end when the children added another narrow piece to the bottom to make the ramp have a more specific track. As you watch you will see that some of the children changed their toy cars- some originally had plastic ones, who changed to the wood ones, and some of them found bigger wood blocks, as they found that the extra weight made them faster. Originally the children were just playing with the cars one by one, but by the time the video starts, they were having races. This made the children think about what they had to do to make their cars go faster as they wanted to win. By the end they were so excited to see how far their cars were going, children started making a tunnel for the cars to go through. So instead of it just being about how far the cars were going, it also meant they had to try to make them go straight. They also found that their body force had a "domino" affect when one child fell back, they all fell back. They were practicing their group decision making, cooperation skills and thinking skills all while having so much fun!
