I have seen a few of these pull-back racers pop up on Pinterest from time to time, from amazing bloggers like
Frugal Fun 4 Boys and these
various rubber band racers, but I thought we could take it one step further and make it more of an engineering activity.
Building the racer was likely the least exciting part of this activity! I gathered several different rubber bands. Try varying the size as well as the thickness. We used a tape measure and counted how many times we wound the rubber band to see which rubber band worked best!
With each rubber band, we wound it around the rear axle 3, 4, and 5 times, and then measured how far it went each time. Before starting a new rubber band, I had my kids guess whether it would work better, and make the car go further, or if it wouldn't work as well.
This activity was so much fun. After using the car, they made several more based on what they thought would make the car work better (different wheels, different style of car, etc.). I am sure we will be doing this one again! I think you will enjoy this one, too, so I'm linking up with
Teachers are Terrific in today's
What is going on in your science class linky!
Be sure to head over and check out more science ideas!
Completely awesome! I have looked at racers like this to try in my classes. I have lots of LEGO and just might do it one day! Thanks you so much for linking up with me!
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Teachers Are Terrific!
Thank YOU, Carol! Your linky motivates me to get up a blog post! =) You'll definitely have to try this one - there are so many variables that can be explored! I really enjoyed it, too!
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