Rube Goldberg – Engage Their Minds

3-12, Creative Thinking, Critical Thinking, Education, Uncategorized

Rube Cereal Machines

January 23, 2018January 22, 2018 Terri Eichholz

Thanks to Carrie Sledge on Twitter (@GreenGTAIM), I learned that General Mills has joined with RubeGoldberg.com to encourage creativity by inviting people to design Rube Goldberg machines that will pour cereal. The General Mills contest is only open to people who are 18 years and up, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of the tutorials they created for using 6 of their cereal boxes to make simple machines. The Rube Goldberg site hosts its own contest for participants who are 8 and up, but you should definitely check the rule book, as there are detailed instructions and a registration fee. Whether you are competing in an official contest or not, creating a Rube Goldberg machine can be a great way to incorporate many curriculum-related skills, as well as the 4 C’s (critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity).

Larry Ferlazzo has a page dedicated to Rube Goldberg resources that you should definitely take a look at if you decide to embark on this adventure!

Screen Shot 2018-01-22 at 6.56.34 PM.png — Screenshot from Rube Goldberg Contest Task Announcement 2018

Creative Thinking, Critical Thinking, Education, K-12, Science, Teaching Tools, Videos

The Serious Business of Play

August 26, 2015August 25, 2015 Terri Eichholz

At the intersection of art and science, you will find 3M’s recent Rube Goldberg Machine video.

It is a masterpiece that proves that logic and creativity are not mutually exclusive.

Education, Fun Friday, Science, Videos

Science by the Dull Eyed Llamas

April 3, 2015 Terri Eichholz

For today’s Phun Phriday post, I am sharing a Rube Goldbergian feat by Ariel Llama. Set to the music of “Science” by the Dull Eyed Llamas, you will see an elaborate set-up designed to open a door. Here is part of the summary on YouTube:

“This Rube Goldberg machine took almost 1 year to build, and 2 weeks of intense troubleshooting and filming to finish. It’s amazing what one crazy musician can build in his living room.

I wanted to show my students that you can make a pretty fancy machine out of cardboard and popsicle sticks, straws and dowels, found objects, duct tape, and perseverance. Et voila!”

I think perseverance might be the understatement of the year!

Art, Creative Thinking, Education, K-12, Student Products, Teaching Tools, Videos

Creative Ways to Survive the Weeks Before Winter Break

December 1, 2014December 5, 2017 Terri Eichholz

Full disclosure: this first week of December is going to be my busiest week this year. Therefore, I decided to cheat a bit for a few days and recycle some posts from last year. I’ve done a bit of editing to make sure they remain current but otherwise they are the same. Hopefully you still find them useful!

Screen Shot 2013-12-15 at 5.45.47 PM — Screen Shot from Kelly Wine’s Rube Goldberg-esque Holiday Machine Video

Let’s face it. This month is hard. No one – including you – is feeling very focused on academics right now. To save everyone’s sanity, and to put smiles on all of the faces in the room, try some of these creative ideas:

If your students are participating in an Hour of Code next week by doing the Hopscotch tutorials on the iPad, use this extension suggested by @kd0602 – design a Holiday Scene. It’s similar to the idea of making a holiday card in Scratch. However, since Hopscotch offers less commands to use, a bit more creative problem solving is required (such as using the text object to make the letter “o” stand in for eyes and a nose on a snowman).
Don’t feel like doing something “techie”? Have your students design new uses for candy canes like Ms. Trayers . (Ms. Trayers has lots of creative ideas, so check out her blog for even more!)
Use this idea from Ian Byrd – Create a Holiday.
Assign students to change the words of a famous holiday song (such as Jingle Bells) to reflect a character’s perspective in a book you are currently reading.
Create holiday cards in the manner of a famous artist. What would a Picasso card look like? How about Van Gogh or O’Keefe?
Do some Winter Mad Libs.
Watch this video, and have students draw and explain their own “Rube Goldberg” holiday machines.
Got some marbles, dominoes, and string? Have the kids design a real “Rube Goldberg” machine that ends with a holiday message!
Try one of the “10 Creative Spins on the Question: What do You Want for Christmas?” from Minds in Bloom.
Enjoy some creative ideas when your students work on this free “Frosty Figurative Language” packet from Leah Chamberlin on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Here are a couple I have mentioned before, but it doesn’t hurt to repeat.

Have your students S.C.A.M.P.E.R. the Holidays.
Write about what you would see if you lived in a snow globe.
Create Text Snowflakes.

Domino Chain Reaction

July 5, 2013 Terri Eichholz

For today’s Fun Friday post, I am sharing a video I originally found on The Kid Should See This.
I must admit that I’ve always found it fascinating to watch domino chain reactions, but never really thought about the physics involved.

While I was grabbing the embed code for this video, I noticed quite a few other video suggestions on the side. As always, I would caution adults to preview any videos before showing them to the class. Another video that employs the use of a domino chain reaction that has been making the internet rounds recently is “Dog Goldberg Machine.” It’s an advertisement for Beneful, but quite clever (and cute!)

Got any dominoes around the house? Playing the game or making the chain reaction are both great activities for a rainy – or super hot – day!

Creative Thinking, Critical Thinking, Education, Fun Friday, Games, K-5, Math, Parenting, Research, Science, Student Products, Videos, Websites

How to Trap a Monster in, Well, A Lot of Steps

April 26, 2013April 25, 2013 Terri Eichholz

I have a Fun Friday video for you of a young man named Audri and his very complex Rube Goldberg contraption. Audri was 7 when he made this video, and aspires to one day study robotics at MIT. I have no doubt that he will achieve all of his dreams! If you feel like playing a virtual Rube Goldberg game, you can head on over to Goldburger to Go at PBS Kids.

Tag: Rube Goldberg

Rube Cereal Machines

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The Serious Business of Play

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Science by the Dull Eyed Llamas

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Creative Ways to Survive the Weeks Before Winter Break

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Domino Chain Reaction

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How to Trap a Monster in, Well, A Lot of Steps

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