Helping Kids with Simple Machines

Recently a couple of kids from 808 had a project for school where they had to build a simple machine out of supplies they had on hand (i.e. no tools necessary). They had been studying simple machines for a while in class, and they now had to put their knowledge to the test.

Using tape, scissors, cardboard, paper, markers and a lot of creativity, we were able to create two really cool simple machines. Unfortunately, we were only able to snap a picture of one of them.

The first one was built by Sirak, and isn't pictured. Sirak used a roll of scotch tape, two small pencils, tape, manilla folders and scissors to create a wheelbarrow, which contains two simple machines: the wheel-axle and the lever.

Sirak, with some help, was able to get the wheel to actually roll, and then used scraps of paper colored gray to simulate rocks.

Abdullah was originally going to make a see-saw, but decided that it wasn't challenging enough to create. Instead, he decided to use a wedge and make an axe. He also put in a little extra effort and turned his scrap paper into a piece of wood for the axe to sink into. Abdullah created this cool tool using manilla folders, paper, scissors and tape.

Above: Abdullah used his simple machine (a wedge) and turned it into an axe, complete with a piece of wood to chop!

Each kid did a great job on his machine; now we just have to hope they both got A's!

Fantastic Lego Creations

Lego (apparently that's the plural, "Legos" is technically wrong) were my favorite toy growing up, so it's cool to see that the kids still like to play with them today. I brought some from home a while back for the kids to build with in the Activity Room, and they came up with some really cool stuff.

Recently, Darius, a teen who goes to the CLC and Activity Room often, donated a couple of boxes of Lego to us that he said his mom wanted him to get rid of. We were more than happy to take them, and the kids got busy creating stuff right away.

On Wednesday, one of the kids who was most excited about the Lego, Sirak, helped me build a really cool Lego beach house, complete with waves, a balcony, a security camera, a locked gate and even a Lego guy surfing in the waves!

Check out the photos below of this cool creation. Maybe we have a future architect on our hands?

Above: A close-up of the beach house's door and walkway.
Below: A close-up of the house's stairs to the beach and of the house's resident catching a Lego wave on his surfboard.

Above: The walkway/entryway from the front lawn to the beach. Not a bad piece of land, eh?

Below: An aerial shot of the house, complete with the security camera, torch on the roof and even the owner's boat/plane off to the left.

Thanks for the donation, Darius! And stay tuned, because we're sure to create more awesome stuff with these new Lego soon!