Playground Physics

Swing high! Slide fast! Head for the seesaw with a friend. Learn how playground equipment works, then create a colorful model with simple machines.

• 1.

  Simple machines make work easier. Loading heavy boxes is hard work, but an inclined plane or ramp makes the job less difficult. Levers, which are unbendable surfaces, work with a pivot or fulcrum to help lift heavy loads. A pulley also makes loads easier to lift. Wedges ease the job of prying materials apart. Scissors, pins, and nails are examples of wedges. A screw is a wedge and an inclined plane in spiral form. It helps to hold two surfaces together. Wheels and axles aid in moving people, animals, and objects.

• 2.

  Research more about simple machines, then visit a playground to find examples of how these machines work so you can have a good time. Find a lever with a fulcrum that helps balance and lift you and a friend. Do you see an inclined plane? Notice the pulley you use to raise and lower the flag. Is there a wheel and axle somewhere on the playground? Sketch the playground with Crayola® Erasable Colored Pencils to show the simple machines you found.

• 3.

  Use your imagination to design playground equipment to reflect your personality. Include at least two simple machines in your design. Here’s one way to make a pinwheel slide (wheel and axle and inclined plane).

• 4.

  Decorate paper. Use Crayola Erasable Colored Pencils to decorate a strip of paper for a slide. Make bright blocks and stripes of color. Erase to create dotted, spiral, zigzag, circle, striped, and plaid patterns.

• 5.

  Fold the slide. Use Crayola Scissors to cut the strip into one short and one longer piece. Fold and bend the long strip into a sliding board. Cut the shorter strip to create ladder steps, a platform, and protective sides. Use Crayola School Glue to attach

• 6.

  Create a playhouse. Glue multicolored strips of more decorated paper, tissue paper, or ribbon along the sides of the inclined plane to form a playhouse area under the slide. Cut, bend, and glue chenille sticks to form railings for the steps and top platfo

• 7.

  Make tiny pinwheels. Cut small squares of paper. Cut a diagonal slit from each corner toward the center of the square. Leave an uncut area in the middle. Carefully bend and glue the tip of each section to the middle of the square. Cut and glue a tiny pape

• 8.

  Display your imaginative playgrounds. Can you and your classmates identify the simple machines in each other’s constructions?

Benefits

• Students research definitions and examples of simple machines.
• Students identify simple machines that are working parts of playground equipment.
• Students fabricate a unique, creative piece of playground equipment that reflects their personalities and incorporates at least two simple machines.

Adaptations

• Rube Goldberg drew contraptions that make simple tasks into difficult and complicated ones. After studying some of his cartoons, try drawing your own Rube Goldberg machine. Will it turn off an alarm clock? Swat a fly? Pet a dog? Think about what can be bu
• Design attractive posters to illustrate safe behavior on playground equipment. Ask permission to display posters throughout your school. Hang them low enough for young students to see.
• A compound machine contains two or more simple machines. Create a whole-class cooperative compound machine on large mural paper. Start with one student’s drawing of a simple machine. Pass the paper to the next student, who attaches another simple machine to the first one. Continue until everyone has contributed a simple machine to the top, bottom, or sides of the group-designed compound machine. Display for all to figure out.
• For added fun, try creating a living, moving, human sculpture of simple machines joined together as one giant compound machine. As each student joins the giant machine, add movement and sound effects to the fun experience.
• Assessment: Students sketch their playground equipment or an imaginary playground. Use arrows to label each piece of equipment with the names of the simple machines that make them work.