Make It Move, Day 2

THIS WEEK'S REQUIREMENT(S) MET: Make It Move, Requirements 2, 3, and started 4 (4 will be completed at home this week and discussed at the meeting next week).

Tonight we continued our Make It Move! requirement, and the boys had a great time working together to learn about pulleys, levers, and Rube Goldberg machines. It was fun to see how they all worked together!

We started by operating 1 pulley to lift a book. How does this thing work?

There we go...

Success!

Next we worked as a group to use 2 pulleys horizontally to pass a message from one end to another. I gave them the supplies, and they had to figure out how to construct their pulley system. They did a fantastic job working together!

Then we tried 3 pulleys together to see how much easier it makes it to lift objects!

Finally, we learned about levers and how we can use them to make it easier to lift heavier objects. The boys worked in pairs to build their own levers.

At the end of the meeting, we watched a short video example of a Rube Goldberg machine called "The Page Turner." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOMIBdM6N7Q. Be sure to ask your scout what he has learned about these types of machines -- they are so much fun to see! The boys will need to complete Requirement 4A at home this week and bring it completed to the meeting next Thursday (see page 216 in the handbook for more information). For this requirement, they just come up with a simple task (opening a door, dropping a ball in a cup, ringing a bell, etc.) and draw a design that would complete this task in AT LEAST 6 steps. They'll share their designs next week at the meeting. (They are NOT expected to build them -- just draw them).

Next week will be exciting -- we will be completing the adventure with requirement 4B, where the boys use materials from around the house to build a Rube Goldberg-type machine together! Please encourage your scout to bring some materials from home that we can use in our machine...things like paper towel rolls, marbles, cups, etc. The more they have to choose from, the more they can use their imaginations to create an amazing machine! :)

And a BIG thank you to all the scouts for remembering to bring their handbooks this week!!!

See you all next week!