# data[].attributes.body
Do not be afraid of play. It is so important on so many levels. PLAY MEETS PURPOSE in the Kindergarten classroom

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
From the Lemelson Center's "Invention at Play" exhibition. Video produced by Hillmann & Carr Inc., Washington, D.C., with additional footage from the award-winning series, "The Promise of Play," courtesy of Direct Cinema Limited.

TRANSCRIPT:

From Child Inventor to Playful Inventor

Boy: Whoa, it is soft.

Alison Gopnik, Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley, co-author, The Scientist in the Crib: Children are making up theories of the world, going out and testing those theories, doing experiments to explore those theories, and that testing and experimentation is what we see when we see play. Even the very youngest children are already doing some of the same things that scientists are doing.

John Fabel, inventor, adjunct professor of design, Hampshire College: If play is exploration, and gives us license to try new ideas, work in many ways is application of that understanding. It's hard for me as an inventor to think about being effective in my work without being involved in the process of play, which really enables me to work at playing with ideas.

Mike Augspurger, inventor of handcycles, One-Off Titanium: I really don't know if this is a good idea or not, you'll just have to let me know. That was the moment, is when I first saw the first handcycle. I kept thinking, how much does that thing weigh? Or think if it was rear wheel drive, or think if you were sitting lower.

Terry Ball, disabled cyclist: Let's go ride.

Mike Augspurger: I could tell that I could make a better one.

Arthur Ganson, sculptor/inventor, artist in residence, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: I would say that all of the ideas on every level come out of a kind of daydreaming, imagining. Where does the idea start? There's an initial idea; there's an attempt to work on it; there are problems. The solutions come from the daydreaming about the problem. And it really is playing with the materials.

Alison Gopnik: When children are finding out about the world, they are using a lot of the same kinds of fundamental, basic techniques that scientists use or, for that matter, that inventors use when they are trying to be creative and find out about the world.

John Fabel: Play is one of the ways that we begin to understand the nature and the shape of the world. This is really a prime occupation of children. What is this place that we've been brought into? How does it work? What happens when we try this? What happens when [we're] mischievous?

David Kelley, founder and chairman, IDEO, product design company: To me, school was questionable, but summer break, those three months in the summer, was a lot of fun. And we would get together and build tree forts or, you know, go dam a river somewhere, or just tear apart mom's washing machine and try to fix it. Sometimes it got back together, and sometimes it didn't. When you play and go way out in a certain direction, it pulls the center out of what people are doing, and so it allows you to come up with innovative ideas.

Boy: You close your eyes, and you flip over one, and you see if you get a match. And you do it while you're closing your eyes.

Frank Wilson, M.D., Stanford University Medical Center, author, The Hand: Young children invent things without anyone ever instructing them to do so.

David Kelley, founder and chairman, IDEO, product design company: We were out watching them the other day, and they were--to make orange juice--they were taking oranges, and they were smashing them with their boots and hammers and everything, and that was orange juice.

Alison Gopnik: One of the things that we always say is that it's not that children are little scientists, it's that scientists are big children.

Ann Moore, Snugli and Air Lift inventor: Third time's a charm. They've accepted it. How can we make it better, cheaper, quick?

Alison Gopnik: Scientists actually are the few people who as adults get to have this protected time when they can just explore, play, figure out what the world is like.

Arthur Ganson: In many ways all of my engineering training has come through just tinkering and playing. I've never had any engineering courses, and I think that's probably a good thing because solving the problems on my own has led to, I think, the nature of my art. Whereas if I had to learn how to make machines in a machine shop, then I would have sort of been told how to make things, and then they would look that way. So I never knew how to make things, I just kind of came up with it.

John Fabel: Sometimes I have to realize that whenever I feel stuck, it's often a cue to start playing. And it's as if play can actually open my mind again, and actually help to reinvigorate the work that I am doing.

Girl: Cool! That's so cool.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Video: From Child Scientist to Playful Inventor

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
From the Lemelson Center's "Invention at Play" exhibition. Video produced by Hillmann & Carr Inc., Washington, D.C., with additional footage from the award-winning series, "The Promise of Play," courtesy of Direct Cinema Limited. Boy: Whoa, it is soft.

# data[].attributes.body
intro. to balls and movement

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Sesame Street: Play Ball! | Elmo's World

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Monster kids team - 20160220 balance bike group hk race

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Incline Plane - Sid The Science Kid - The Jim Henson Company

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Fancy a career as a roller coaster designer or architect? If so, this game will be right up your street. Rollercoaster Creator is a fun and entertaining building game for kids and teens where you get to draw and design your very own custom-built rollercoaster track in the online amusement park. Create the ride of your life by inserting terrifying steep inclines, exhilarating loop-the-loops and hair-raising drops. Earn Thrill coins from your passengers (virtual coins with a red heart) by making your track more daring.

Play this compelling game to test your physics knowledge, including the universal laws of gravity, force and motion. Make sure your track is designed to build up enough momentum for those petrifying twists and turns, or your train might get stuck or even crash. When you have built your track, click on the Play icon, and see how much the thrill-seeking public love it.

How to Play: Use your computer mouse to click on the "Start" icon, then click on "1" to start on level one. A quick visual demo is played before each level to instruct you how to use the available tools (Draw it Yourself Pencil, Up the Track, Down the Track, Steep Incline, Steep Drop and Loop). On Level One, you get to draw free-hand using the standard pencil. Draw upward and downward curves for an awesome bumpy ride.

On Level Two you have to use the "Up the Track" tool, this allows your rollercoaster train to climb up a slope without rolling backwards: To insert - Click on the "Up the Track" tool beside the pencil on the bottom of your game screen - Click the point where you want to insert it - Drag your mouse to make it longer. If you try to draw up the track with your pencil when you have no speed built up, the train will simply roll backwards and comes to a stop you have to start that level again.

On Level Three to Six, you have to insert "Down the Track", "Loop", "Steep Incline" and "Steep Drop" in the same way. Draw your track past all of the Yellow coins so that your train can collect them as it passes. You need to gather all of the Yellow coins to pass the level. If your adrenalin-seeking passengers love your cool track, you earn extra Thrill coins for a Gold Star (perfect ride).

If this Flash-based game no longer works on IE11 on your PC / MAC, try playing on Chrome or Firefox browser.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
free construction games for kids to play

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Rollercoaster building game online free,make your own rollercoaster game for kids girls,no download

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Fancy a career as a roller coaster designer or architect? If so, this game will be right up your street. Rollercoaster Creator is a fun and entertaining building game for kids and teens where you get to draw and design your very own custom-built rollercoaster track in the online amusement park.

# data[].attributes.body
You have to purchase a subscription to this website.

# data[].attributes.body
Free Resource on TPT

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Force & Motion: Push & Pull Sorting Cards

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Use these 33 push and pull cards for sorting, categorizing, or active engagement games. See below for other science resources: Types of Energy Sorting Cards and Cooperative Games Force and Motion Sorting Cards Matter Summative Assessment Science Experiment: Density with Floating Eggs Science Exper...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Disney's Animated Storybook: Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1999) - Videogame Longplay

# data[].attributes.headline
The Berenstain Bears Ride The Thunderbolt

# data[].attributes.subject
The Berenstain Bears Ride The Thunderbolt

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Berenstain Bears Ride the Thunderbolt

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Force and Motion | Science Trek | PBS LearningMedia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This episode of IdahoPTV's Science Trek defines gravity, force, friction and inertia through examples from amusement park rides. Examples and explanations of Sir Isaac Newton's Three Laws of Motion are also included.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Paper Towel Roll & Pom Pom Challenge 💡 ages 3+ 💡 This awesome game is so simple to make and tons of fun! A perfect STEAM activity that incorporates engineering (building the game) and math (moving the pom pom through the game in the correct order). It's also great for fine motor skills, balance and coordination.

Paper Towel Roll & Pom Pom Challenge Video

Check out the below video to see the game in action:

And don't forget to check out our NEW book - 100 Easy STEAM Activities is full of fun games and creative projects to learn early concepts in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math with materials you already have around the house!

MATERIALS NEEDED (affiliate links):

WHAT TO DO:

1. Start by cutting the empty paper towel rolls into 1.5 inch sections.

2. Once you have 10 pieces cut, arrange them randomly inside the cardboard container. Be sure to leave enough room so the pom pom can roll between the pieces.

3. Then lift each piece and place a small drop of glue under it and replace it back in the same spot on the container.

4. Allow the glue to dry for about an hour. Once the glue is dry, write the numbers 1-10 on top of the pieces in random order.

5. Finally, place the pom pom in the container and then game can begin.

The object of the game is to get the pom pom to roll through all the numbered pieces in the correct order. For toddlers, they can practice rolling the pom pom around through the tunnels and identifying numbers.

Modifications: You could also label the rolls with letters, shapes or colors depending on the age of the kids or to work on different skills.

If you like this activity, check out some of our other math activities.

About Raising Dragons

Raising Dragons is a site dedicated to raising strong, smart, amazing kids! Our focus is on creating activities that can easily be pulled together with items you have around the house. We believe learning should be fun and accessible for everyone and can be done with everyday objects! We also know parents are busy and don't have lots of time to pull together activities so we keep things very SIMPLE! Check out some of our favorite activities like: Writing Letters in Sprinkles, Alphabet Lids, and a Calm Down Sensory Bottle.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Paper Towel Roll & Pom Pom Challenge * ages 3+ ⋆ Raising Dragons

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Paper Towel Roll & Pom Pom Challenge 💡 ages 3+ 💡 This awesome game is so simple to make and tons of fun! A perfect STEAM activity that incorporates engineering (building the game) and math (moving the pom pom through the game in the correct order).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In this STEM challenge for kids, children will create a paper plate marble maze game inspired by pinball machines using a paper plate and a marble. This engineering activity is great for kids from kindergarten age up through 4th, 5th and 6th grades!

Follow our STEM for Kids Pinterest board!
This post contains affiliate links.
This post was originally published May 24, 2016 and has since been updated.
In our most recent science club, I challenged my students to create a pinball-like marble maze game using a paper plate, some basic craft supplies, and marbles. Kids created all kinds of cool structures on their paper plates for their marbles to go through as they tilted the plate different directions using their hands.

See it in action here:

Materials for Paper Plate Pinball Challenge

Directions for Paper Plate Pinball Challenge
If your students are not familiar with pinball machines (yes, we're that old!), watch some pinball machine YouTube videos together. Notice the different ramps, bumpers, and other pinball machine parts.
1. Provide each child with one paper plate and access to various craft supplies. I demonstrated how to create some simple arches using strips of construction paper. I also provided each student with their own individual pack of Wikki Stix. (You can also buy them in large quantities.) You can do this activity with just construction paper and tape, or try other materials as well, like pipe cleaners or straws.

2. Let the kids get busy creating and testing out their pinball machines with marbles.

The kids loved using Wikki Stix to create paths for their marbles.

Some kids used construction paper to create ramps and pockets in their pinball games and even designated point values for different arches!

The kids had a blast with this science project and even got so excited about the activity, they were trading finished pinball plates for their friends to try!

Be sure to check out STEAM Kids book and ebook for even more creative STEM and STEAM ideas!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
STEM Challenge for Kids: Design a Paper Plate Marble Maze - Buggy and Buddy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In this STEM challenge for kids, children will create a paper plate marble maze game inspired by pinball machines using a paper plate and a marble. This engineering activity is great for kids from kindergarten age up through 4th, 5th and 6th grades! Follow our STEM for Kids Pinterest board!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Free weblog publishing tool from Google, for sharing text, photos and video.

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.text
After researching about how balls are made and their composition (we added this “wow” word to our vocabulary bank @anniott), these little elves  in Santa’s workshop worked super hard to make great balls of their own! @barkleybridge @Towers_Tina #AMSTIworks

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.original_text
After researching about how balls are made and their composition (we added this “wow” word to our vocabulary bank @anniott), these little elves  in Santa’s workshop worked super hard to make great balls of their own! @barkleybridge @Towers_Tina #AMSTIworks https://t.co/C1fXk5Vty2

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
After researching about how balls are made and their composition (we added this “wow” word to our vocabulary bank @anniott), these little elves in Santa’s workshop worked super hard to make great balls of their own! @barkleybridge @Towers_Tina #AMSTIworks pic.twitter.com/C1fXk5Vty2
— Beth Balch (@curlyqbalch) December 8, 2018

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.data.text
After researching about how balls are made and their composition (we added this “wow” word to our vocabulary bank @anniott), these little elves  in Santa’s workshop worked super hard to make great balls of their own! @barkleybridge @Towers_Tina #AMSTIworks https://t.co/C1fXk5Vty2

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
After researching about how balls are made and their composition (we added this “wow” word to our vocabulary bank @anniott), these little elves  in Santa’s workshop worked super hard to make great balls of their own! @barkleybridge @Towers_Tina #AMSTIworks https://t.co/C1fXk5Vty2

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.text
After researching about how balls are made and their composition (we added this “wow” word to our vocabulary bank @anniott), these little elves  in Santa’s workshop worked super hard to make great balls of their own! @barkleybridge @Towers_Tina #AMSTIworks

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Ramp Rolling | The Way Things Move | Kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Kids build ramps with everyday objects and invent a bowling game.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation) has released a video showing the manufacturing of ping pong balls and it's incredibly satisfying to watch.

It details the 6 steps in the process from shaping to packaging.
Produced by Leon Siciliano

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
This is the 6-step process for making ping pong balls

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation) has released a video showing the manufacturing of ping pong balls and it's incredibly satisfying to watch. It details the 6 steps in the process from shaping to packaging. Produced by Leon Siciliano

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Slow Motion Golf Ball Collision — The Wonder of Science

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Description:   In this dramatic slow motion video a golf ball collides with a piece of steel showing a large amount of compression. Different golf balls are designed to have varying amounts of compression based on the desired behavior of the ball. In a kindergarten class golf balls

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Force and Motion: StudyJams! Science | Scholastic.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Whenever there is a change in motion, force is the responsible party. This activity will teach students more about how force and motion are related.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Goals for the Understanding of Balls and Ramps | PBS LearningMedia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Teacher Heidi Fessenden converses with her first grade students while they conduct an investigation on marbles rolling down ramps. The students test whether the size of the marbles affects how quickly they roll down the ramp. Fessenden informally assesses their learning while they conduct the tests.

# data[].attributes.headline
Setting up a Balls and Ramps experiement

# data[].attributes.subject
Setting up a Balls and Ramps experiement

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Setting up a Fair Experiment with Balls and Ramps | PBS LearningMedia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Teacher Heidi Fessenden helps her first-grade students set up an experiment using marbles and ramps in this video segment from Teaching Elementary Physical Science. Her class explores the variables of the experiment and discusses how to control factors to make the experiment fair.

# data[].attributes.headline
Making Observations with Balls and Ramps

# data[].attributes.subject
Making Observations with Balls and Ramps

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Making Observations of Balls and Ramps | PBS LearningMedia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In this video segment from Teaching Elementary Physical Science, teacher Heidi Fessenden encourages discussion about observations of physical phenomena. She asks her first-grade students to share their observations and offer explanations about the behavior of marbles rolling down ramps. Fessenden uses questioning and offers key terms to focus the students' attention on important observations and to help them express detailed descriptions.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Making Predictions about Ramp-Rolling | PBS LearningMedia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In this video segment from Teaching Elementary Physical Science, teacher Heidi Fessenden guides her first-grade students to make predictions about what might happen when they roll two marbles of different sizes down similar ramps. Fessenden asks students to explain their logic, ensuring that they are really thinking and not just guessing.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Comparing Results to Predictions with Balls and Ramps | PBS LearningMedia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In this video segment from Teaching Elementary Physical Science, teacher Heidi Fessenden leads a class discussion comparing the results of her first-grade students' experiments with their predictions. Students first predicted whether the size of a marble would affect how quickly it reaches the end of a ramp and then conducted the experiment.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Sports Science | The Ruff Ruffman Show: Science | PBS LearningMedia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Targeted to students in kindergarten to second grade, this science resource collection from The Ruff Ruffman Show features teacher's guides, YouTube-inspired videos, digital games, and student activities in English and Spanish starring canine host extraordinaire, Ruff Ruffman.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Structures | The Ruff Ruffman Show: Science | PBS LearningMedia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Targeted to students in kindergarten to second grade, this science resource collection from The Ruff Ruffman Show features teacher's guides, YouTube-inspired videos, digital games, and student activities in English and Spanish starring canine host extraordinaire, Ruff Ruffman.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In this video, watch as children use ramps to investigate forces that make things move. Rolling Down Ramps is a hands-on science exploration for young children and their teachers, parents or caregivers.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In this video, explore the power of air using a straw, a plastic bag and a book. Putting Air to Work is a hands-on science exploration for young children and their teachers, parents or caregivers.