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ScienceGrade School220 Comments
I was put to a challenge by General Mills, my sponsor, to make a Rube Goldberg Machine.
Wait, what’s a Rube Goldberg Machine?
Yeah, I didn’t know either. I had to do my research.
Basically, its lots of simple machines put together to do a simple task very elaborately. One machine is manually put into action, which causes the next to start, and the next, and so on, a domino effect of machines. Which eventually does something in the end.
We’ve done activities surrounding simple machines, such as the homemade pulley, in the past. But nothing to this extent.
You can read more about Rube Goldberg Machines and see some incredible ones on YouTube.
Beware, if you’ve seen those on YouTube, you may be disappointed by my attempt. Its nothing that extravagant!
Rube Goldberg machines would be much better matched for boys and girls 9 years and up, that have a love machines. My boys have a love of machines, don’t get me wrong. They’re just not quite old enough to understand the cause and effect on their own. So my husband and I did a little bit of prepping with some added input from the boys. And George loved to be the one to set off the machines to watch them all go.
This was definitely a learning experience of cause and effect for the kids!
But, man are these machines fast! Its hard to catch it all!
General Mills supplied us with some goodies. A big box of Mega Bloks and lots and lots of cereal boxes. free cars made out of Mega Bloks (and supplied us with them as well)! Featuring Hello Kitty or Power Rangers. Cars can be found in specially marked boxes of cereal, including Honey Nut Cheerios, Reese’s Puffs, Cocoa Puffs, Lucky Charms, Golden Grahams and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
We took the challenge and made a Rube Goldberg machine pour the boys a bowl of cereal.
How did we do it?
Well, it took a lot of trial and error and a lot of questions to figure it out.
We started with the end.
How can we get a box of cereal to dump into a bowl?
We made a balance using the cereal box. Poked a pencil through the box and balanced it on two supports made of Mega Bloks.
We tied down the back of the box to the table using tape and yarn. By taping the yarn to the bottom of the box and securing the other end on the table with the weight of Mega Bloks. This was the trigger. Something had to move those blocks to let go of the string which would then allow the box to pour the cereal into the bowl on the other side.
What could move those blocks?
Those Mega Blok cars can!
But, what can make them move to do that?
Oh yes, they can slide out of a cereal box like a ramp! But how do I get the cars to stay put, and then move? The box needs to be flat and then tilted to a ramp.
Note: I used two different types of Mega Bloks cars in the design; you’ll see a larger car, and a smaller-sized car. Select Big G cereal boxes will feature the smaller “Micro Blok” version.
What can make the box into a ramp?
Something needs to lift the back side or drop the front side.
We added the box to a empty tub of oatmeal.
We just taped it in place using Scotch Tape. It balanced on the top of the tub, with the front end of the box hanging out front. The back end was heavier because it was filled with the Mega Bloks cars ready to ramp down!
This was the biggest struggle of the Rube Goldberg, getting the cars in place and balancing the box.
We (and when I say we, I mostly mean my husband for this part) also taped the tub onto the table to keep it mostly stable in place. We wanted it to move a bit, but not too far. Added Mega Bloks on the back side helped secure it in its spot.
All it needed was something to push it just a tad to tip that box forward to let the cars go sailing out to push aside those blocks to trigger the balanced cereal box to pour cereal into the bowl.
What can just slightly nudge the balanced box?
A row of cereal boxes set up as dominoes did the trick.
But what can cause them to tip over?
And that’s where the boys had some fun building a tower of Mega Bloks and ramps.
We ended up setting up three ramps with three large cars (not included in the cereal boxes from Big G) from the Fast Tracks Rescue Team Mega Blox Set (affiliate link in case you’re interested), each pushing each other. This was George’s favorite part.
At the end of the ramps, the car ran off and bumped into a pencil (actually two pencils that we taped together to make it long enough) that in turn pushed that first cereal box that set off the domino effect.
George was the trigger to start the whole series of machines.
We used many ramps and levers in our Rube Goldberg Machine.
The supplies we ended up using for our Rube Goldberg Machine:
- Cereal Boxes
- Mega Bloks
- Large Mega Blok Cars
- Small Mega Blok Cars
- Empty oatmeal tub
- Yarn/string
- 3 Pencils
- Tape
The chain reaction that happened:
- George pushed car #1 down the ramp
- Car #1 bumped car #2 down the ramp
- Car #2 bumped car #3 down the ramp
- Car #3 bumps the propped pencils
- The propped pencils pushed over the first cereal box
- The cereal box knocked over a Domino line of cereal boxes
- The last cereal box nudged the balanced cereal box with the cars in it
- The balanced cereal box tipped forward
- The cars races out of the box to the ‘finish line’
- At the finish line, the cars bumped the Mega Bloks out of the way
- The Mega Bloks released the string
- The string released the balanced cereal box of cereal
- The cereal box tipped and poured Honey Nut Cheerios into the bowl
Phew! And that all happened in less than 5 seconds. Here’s a short video of it happening:
Tips for making your own Rube Goldberg Machine:
- Make it backwards, start with the end goal (pouring a bowl of cereal) and work backwards to the beginning.
- Save items from recycling to use in the Rube Goldberg Machine (such as toilet and paper towel paper tubes, oatmeal tubs, egg cartons)
- Be inspired! Look at other Rube Goldberg Machines for ideas
- Incorporate young kids where possible. They may not be able to brainstorm up how to do it, but if they’re apart of building it, they’ll be even more excited with the outcome
- Expect it to fail, over and over again. Then adjust something and do it again. And still expect it to fail again even if it once was successful
Do you know anyone that would love to make their own Rube Goldberg Machine?
Share this with them, go on!
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Angela D. says
This is really cool! I will recommend this to my 11 yr old, who would love to do this.
naima says
Cool rube gold berg i wanna do it for my school project
Heather says
I would recommend this to my sister-in-law and her 2 daughters, ages 8 and 12. While they both love learning how things work and building things, my 2 nieces are so resourceful and enjoy reusing things in new ways! This is so neat and it reminds me of Back to the Future!
Ranee DeMott says
I would recommend this activity to my homeschooling friends because they would not only take the time to build the system, and do the activity, but also build a science unit around the activity.
IngraSmith says
Believe it or not but I can see my seventh and eighth grade class rocking this! Perhaps make it a little more challenging by adding in a few “design restraints” related to the science concepts we just learned about- motion and forces, pendulums, compression/tension, etc- and they would have a blast designing, building and testing. Talk about applying science to solve a real problem!
Shannon H says
I’d have to recommend for us to save til 3 yr old is older or to assemble and keep out of reach a while til the build tall, knock it over ends! ;) Thanks!
jean diemer says
I have an 8 year old granddaughter who is in the gifted program at school and is all into science. She comes over once a week and we have science day about once a month. She puts on her safety glasses and we see how much fun we can have and figure out how the experiment works and why. Such fun. Moved from Cinti, Ohio, near Kings Island about a year ago to Terre Haute, Indiana so we could do these kinds of things. I know she would love to figure out how to make a Rube Goldberg Machine. Thanks for posting such fun activities.
Al says
I would recommend this activity to my husband and my 4 year old daughter because they’ve spent the last couple of weekends watching YouTube videos of Rube Goldberg machines while baby and I sleep in! This would be so perfect to extend the learning. I can just picture them eating cereal while they build a Rube Golberg machine that can wash dishes (wishful thinking?) Anyway, I think they’d have fun!
Katie Cooper Mallett` says
I LOVE this and just know my 3 year old and 1.5 year old would think it’s amazing! This looking like so much fun for little engineers! I also would recommend this activity for my engineer friend Danielle and her 4 and 2 year old. She knows it’s as important to do these kinds of activities with her little girl as it is with her little boy!
Laranda Drecsel says
I would recommend doing this with my daycare kids. Always need new this to do and I think this would create a lot of excitement for them.
Sarah says
How fun! I would definitely recommend this to kids of all ages, it’s so simple, it can easily be less complicated for younger kids and more components added for older kids! My daughter loves building simple machines and this would be a great learning extension! She loves singing the song “I Love a Lever” from Sesame Street as she finds different things around the house that she can make into levers. My little engineer in the making!
D Lee says
Absolutely love such projects; fun AND educational! Thank you
Natasha says
My 10 year old builds Rube Goldberg machines. Shevmade a domino alarm clock to wake her in the morning. Its not elaborate like most that we seebits just a simple setup of some wodden blocks a small metal tin, a heavy steal ball, some twine, and a slow burning candle. The blocks hold the weighted ball which is hanging in the string and the candle burns through thebnight slowly burining the string. By the time the string is burned it’s morning and the ball drops in the metal tin and makes a fracking loud noise and wakes her up.
We dont use it often but when she does she has to set it up around 9pm central time so that she can wake by 6am.
She loves things like this. I think when she gets older she will be an engineer like her uncle so I would recommend this for my 10 year old. By the way she wants to be a ballerina.
Julie says
My 11 year old twin girls and my 7 year old son would enjoy working on this together! They like to experiment and it is very enjoyable to watch them work together. Recently after Halloween I found a book of candy experiments. For two hours they were at the table working together and coming up with things on their own. It was wonderful!
Stacy Arnold says
This promotes creativity and fun in your every day life. I would recommend this to all my friends to have fun with their kids.
Cindi says
You guys did great! I would recommend this activity to children even younger than 9, based on their interest in this type of thing, as well as maturity level, and ability to have patience, lol. I know that my 9 year old grandson would love making one, but I have seen my 7 year old granddaughter truly take her time and think about what she is building when she is working with blocks and other things she is creating with, and the 8 year old kiddo who has grown up in my home daycare has been working with projects like this, on his own, since he was about 6. So, I think my actual answer to “to whom” and “why” would be, children of any age that show an interest, and because they will learn something, whether they realize it or not, and they will have fun.
Jamie Pinkney says
I think it’s terrific and we are going to use it for our Friday science experiment ! The kids will love it !
LuAnn Meyer says
This would be for my 2 granddaughter at our house. I am always challenging the 5 year old to use what we have and be inventive! She loves it. I will never forget when she was 3 and saw a simple, really simply pulley on kids show. She had to reproduce it immediately over the front door! The 14 year old is very creative but science is something girls of her age need to be challenged and motivated to pursue.
Science and Math IS for girls!!
Elna Marie Phillips says
I would do this with my daycare children. I have a group of boys that love to build things. This would be so much fun for them to do. I love to inspire my chidren to think outside of the box, to look at things in a different way, this would be a great oppurtunity for us to do just that!
Anna irwin says
My friend Sara who homeschools her three kids would love this!
Natasha Franco says
I would recommend this project to my children and husband. I will recommend it to them because they absolutely love cereal and would eat it all day long if I would let them. It would be awesome to see their reaction.
April Farley says
I so sorry I hit enter before I answered the question Who would you recommend this activity to and why?I would recommend this for myself as we have Grandchildren here full time that need activities to get them to reason and to think creatively. I would also recommend this to my youngest daughter for her 2 eldest children that are almost 6 and 4.
April Farley says
This is a wonderful activity for a cold winter day! Thank you for sharing this fun think out side the box (pun intended) activity .
Michelle says
This is a great activity for all ages! My 9 year old loves to invent! He would love this challenge and his 2 year old brother would love to help and watch the machine in action! What a great way to spend time together! I love this idea!
jan says
I would have loved to see my kindergarteners try something like this with their fourth grade buddies.
Crystal Rogers Walker says
I would recommend this to my 3 Grandkids that have hardly no time during the week but on weekends this would be perfect for them to do at home
Becky says
I would recommend this for a Saturday afternoon project for my husband and my two boys, ages 6 and 8. My husband is kind of a kid himself, and they would love to spend time putting this together! Thanks for all the fun ideas!
alissa says
what a great idea and great to be so creative; as a mom of two kiddos (a 2 1/2 year old and an almost 6 month old) I never have a free hand; the most amazing thing about rube Goldberg and his amazing inventions is that its like he almost invisioned a world where you didn’t need to use both hands–it is the mom who needs extra time, extra space, extra everything and a device that does things on its own!! how inventive. how many times have moms wished that they needed that extra hand–well here is something that actually works
Angela P says
WOW! This would be SO cool for my 6 year old Son and I to do together.
Connie says
This look like so much fun, I would recommend it to my children for my grandchildren, I also have a day care the comes to the library for story time and I think she might be able to do this also.
Emma says
My daughter would love this – she loves to build and tinker and plus is just looks like FUN!
Cherie vance says
I would recommend this to my 10 year old son. He loves constructing new thing and seeing how things work.
Anu says
I recommend this to my second grade students ! We are learning to do lab/scientific writing so this would make for a great science experiment !
karen jablon says
I am an elementary school teacher. This summer I helped write science curriculum. This would be awesome to add to curriculum to make it even more hands on and as part of the STEM initiative.
amapola says
my 5 year old son who hates breakfast!
Christina says
What fun!! Does recommending it to my son count?!? :) As another commenter stated, my husband is more the engineering type and would find this fun and simple, while I find paper crafts easier to do!
Thanks for posting this neat idea, and for hosting a giveaway!
Ann Rauscher says
Nothing beats Scientific Discovery through hands-on participation for young minds. My Grandchildren, ages 7, 5, 4 1/2, and 2 1/2 would all love to build a machine that would do something for them! They would learn cause-effect and problem-solving skills, develop and expand language skills, and learn cooperation and patience as they proudly build a matching that is all their own! I would love to be able to share the kit with my Grandchildren over the coming holidays!
ANNETTE LYNN says
GREAT IDEA . MY 6 YEAR OLD GRANDSON IS A BORN TINKERING, HOW DOES IT WORK, SORT. HE WOULD LOVE THIS IDEA. I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS TO HIM WHOLE HEARTEDLY.
Sarah Goldstein says
Can’t wait to try this with my boys!
Wyndi says
This is definitely something I could see my husband and daughter enjoying together. I love crafting & playing with my kiddos but am not always good at the engineering, bldg, etc activities. This is where my husband shines. It’s magical watching him enter a world of creativity with my daughter. I could see the two of them having a ball finding the most complex, interesting way to pour a bowl of cereal.
Dina says
I am going to share this with the whole center. what a fun way to show cause and effect, build language, work together. The children will have tons of fun and discovery. cant wait. thank you
Vanessa L says
This would be perfect for my 7 and 9 yr old niece and nephew. They would love figuring out all the parts and actions.
Frazia Sanders says
this is a great Idea to spark creativity in kids also art this can be viewed as a form of art and mechanics they have fun building and using it and they see mechanic’s at work and have a better understanding this also helps with learning some patience which in my house we all can use some we where not blessed with that ha-ha but this is a great way to teach them and them have fun at the same time and use problem solving skills all things that we all need to fix things and learn how to fix things when we are older!
Rani Graham says
My son is 9 and loves machines. He is very imaginative and I fully expect him to one day have his own business. He loves Shark Tank so he would probably try to get on it. I know we could build an awesome Rube Goldberg machine for his morning bowl of cereal. He literally eats cereal every day. We will make one even if we don’t win but the extra help would be nice. Saying a prayer that whoever wins deserves and loves it even if it’s not us.
Amy says
Great project! I would recommend this to any fans of Peewee’s Big Adventure! There are some fun machines in that movie. My daughter would love to do this! Thanks for the awesome idea :)
Joy Hearrington says
Thank you so much for the video and the simplified explanations. (It helps if mom and dad know what we are trying to achieve! :)) The working backwards from the goal is excellent instructional design in action so I am excited to try this out with our just-turned five year old girl. This is a great activity in perseverance! I’ve been looking for more activities to build perseverance because “quitting” is an issue for us these days. Daddy and I are big believers in strengthening our family bond through activities that are fun but also meet the goal of education at the same time so this is perfect for the weekend. Our girl loves Cinnamon Toast Crunch and just got her first set of plastic blocks at our local consignment sale. Those blocks wouldn’t work as well for this project so I hope we can be one of the five General Mills gift box winners so we can make our own Rube Goldberg machine successfully! Way to help out families and increase STEM education, GM! Our daughter is always using our recycling items out of the bin to make things like a grocery store or a restaurant so I think she will get a great kick out of using the boxes, other items, and some of her cars to make this cool machine. I always loved that game Mouse Trap for this exact reason and back then, had no idea I was learning and setting up simple mechanics! Knowledge is power and for our kid, we want to make learning hands-on and intentional! Thank you for all the great ideas (not just this one)! :) P.S. We love Hello Kitty too!
theresa says
I would recommend this to teachers for a science fair idea. I think we might try to make one for our science fair this year. great idea.
Darlene Brigman says
My grandson loves to play cars and ramps ,he would love this for sure .we will be trying this,thanks
Nancy L says
This is a great activity for my Day-care kids. It will stimulate their imagination and let me expand on their ideas. They learn so much through play and hands on activities.
Mila says
My 4 year old will love this! He loves to tinker with blocks, boxes, toys, tape,…you name it! What a great idea!
Terri says
Wow! This is an activity that could be used by young children all the way up to high school-of course, the amount of adult assistance would change with the age…but, all ages could learn something from this wonderful activity.
I would recommend this machine/activity for my daughter’s 5th & 6th grade special education class who happen to be struggling with learning about simple machines. This would be so perfect. Everyone learns so much better with hands-on experiences!
Great Idea!
Lindsay says
I am going to recommend this, and hopefully, try at Thanksgiving. My 2 year old and my 2 nieces who are 3 and love cereal will have so much fun! What a fun idea.
Jonathan says
I love it! This is STEM education at home!
I would recommend this to any parent that wants to have a fun Saturday with their kids. I just sent the link to my brother and can’t wait to do this activity with my daughter. Hands on is how we learn. :)
MelissaM says
Both our pre-school class and our summer school-agers will enjoy this activity.Thanks for sharing your experience.
Kathryn says
My kids would love this!
Sally says
This was so cool! What a way for the whole family to work together! I am all for that. I have an after school class here at the library. And this is a great project for them.
Joy Hearrington says
What a great librarian! We love our libraries! Way to serve the community!
Kriti says
I would recommend this to the Pre-K class at my son’s day care. They would love to do it. My son would love the domino effect (he is a bit young to get the whole chain reaction) but he would love to tip over the cereal boxes to get his cereal….he does love his cheerios…:)
Joy Hearrington says
Our daughter’s pre-K class is working on cause and effect so I think your son would understand a lot more too once this is seen in action. If you ask him questions after it’s set-up but before you start its reaction, like, “What do you think is going to happen when this car is let go?” and “What will happen to this car then?” or “What do you think this pencil will help the box do?” and “What if the boxes don’t fall like dominoes?” or “How can we fix that?” I think you’d be wonderfully surprised if you give him about 5 seconds or more to really think about an answer to your questions (seriously, it’s hardest for us grown-ups to keep quiet and let them think so I actually count in my head–1 Mississippi, 2 MS, 3 MS, etc.) And the more hands-on activities we do, the more we are teaching our kids how to think critically so they can problem solve in any situation. I love this website! Don’t you? :)
Sara says
I would get this for my husband and my almost 3-year old son. My husband is such a big kid and loves teaching our son all about science. They just visited a local baseball stadium that has a Rube Goldberg installation at it. My son had been taking about it for days. I think it would be great to have something hands-on that he can experience at home!
Melanie says
What an awesome invention! Thanks for sharing your creative ideas. I would love to try this out with my son!
Daisy says
I run an after school program for K-6th graders. This would be a wonderful activity to get their heads churning. It would be wonderful to engage them in experimenting and building, while also working on their social skills.
jeralyn dayon says
I would recommend this project to the children at the school I currently work at. It would help them learn about different energies and motions. They would learn how to work together because it would be a group effort. They would have a new cool way to pour a bowl of cereal and who doesn’t want that.
Susan says
I teach preschool and have some great ‘thinkers’ and this would be a great activity to do together in our science unit. The funds for extra things to do in preschool is very very limited. I love trying new things and the kids get really excited when we create and build. It would be fantastic if my class was chosen to do this. What a great way to support our children. Thank you!
Emilie says
This is a great way for children and adults to work together to make something that no one knows the outcome of. As it says, expect to fail again and again. What a great opportunity to teach children about not giving up and working hard! Sometimes for teachers and parents and guardians it is uncomfortable to be in a position of not knowing the answer or not knowing what to do next. This is a great safe way to work together with children to design and build something silly. I would love to do this my classroom kids, and also my own children!
Joy Hearrington says
I agree, Emilie! It’s such a great challenge for us as adults and an example of how perseverance will pay off. I’ve been looking for more ways to get my 5 year old to persevere vs. quit when the going gets tough. A huge life lesson that we all need to learn as young as possible! :) This activity is great for family and building perseverance!
Shanda J says
This would be great for our autism team! Many of our children enjoy projects that practice fine motor skills and organization.
Sarah k says
I have a two year old girl that loves cars. This is one awesome way to step up the creative process! So fun!
Jesica Ferry says
What a great way to explore physics with your kids. My son and husband would love the ingenuity behind it. I think this winter as it gets cold and we are looking for fun and stimulating things to do inside we will have to build our own. However, I think this is also a great activity for my son’s school! They focus on learning through play and love to get the kids involved in lots of hands on experiments and activities. I will be sharing this with his teachers so they can incorporate in the classroom as well.
Gina says
Wow, this is neat! My littles would love to do this! Not only does it teach science, but it’s fun, too! Great post! Thank ypu for sharing!
Heather K says
My son is in cub scouts and we are always looking for fun projects to do. This looks like so much fun. And educational to boot. Would love to win this.
Karen says
As an early childhood educator and as a mom of young children, this activity would be a fantastic and highly engaging for eager learners to experience the cause and effect of movement. They would be able to experience first hand how they can control movement and the force behind the movement. What a fun activity to create!
denise says
I would love to do this with my almost 5 y.o. son. He already loves to build things; plus it’s another great way to keep away from screen time!!
Alizabeth says
I would recommend to my son ( who is always trying to make things move and take them apart to find out how they work, so he can make something else!) But I would recommend to my brother who has two kids and I think he would love to work with them to teach them how to take these random items to create a machine that does something. A lot of fun!
Jenny says
This is awesome! My sons would love this! I do see what you mean about prepping….but what a payoff!
Erin Dodd says
I would recommend this to my special education students because we are always looking for ways to engage them and teach them the standards, including how things work (pulleys, levers, etc.). I think this activity would be a great way to include them in hands on learning and follow our state standards! Thank you for sharing such wonderful ideas. I use them at home with my kiddos as well. They are 4, 2, and 1. :)
Alycia says
I would recommend this to the little 5 year old boy I work with. Learning about cause and effect is a great skill to learn at that age and is something fun hands on he would love to see the finished product!
Carolyn says
Any of my first grader’s friends would love this!
Raven says
I would recommend this activity to my sister. She unfortunately does not have her son right now. He lives with his dad wile she goes to school to become a nurse. So she only sees him 1ce a year cause thy live so far apart. This would be awesome to make with him. Thy would get fantastic bonding time. He loves building things.
Teresa says
This looks like so much fun. We’ll have to give it a try with my 5 year old son one cold wintry Saturday in the next few weeks. I also immediately thought of my niece Jane who is a 7 year old natural engineer/artist. I’m surprised nobody else thought of their daughters or nieces! My nephew John would also get a kick out of it, as would his brother and sisters.
Tara says
So this is a great idea that incorporates so many learning skills. This would great for all children any age especially on those snow days. Definitely trying this very soon. Just have to save those cereal boxes etc instead of putting them in the recycling bin.
LoriAnn Kocialski says
I would love to win this!!! We home school and this would be awesome!!!!!
Cindi says
This is so neat! My boys would love getting to play and experiment with this and aside from them, I would most recommend this project to either my friend with 5 very active kids, or to my readers in general from my Autism awareness page. This is just such a neat hands-on way to teach cause and effect and incorporate a bit of engineering along the way. :)
Jennifer Reec says
I would love to do this with all 3 of my children . Their ages are 14,8, & 4. It will be to see how we work as a team with an end result. It’ll be a great way to build team work while learning, understand the process of cause and effect, as well as helping them to become good problem solvers. I think I would recommend this activity to Parents as well as Teachers . It’s great hands on fun while learning!
Debbie Wallace says
I would love this for my daycare children. We’re always looking for new and exciting ways to encourage eating. Children get bored easily but I think being able to build and experience this, they would be reinvigorated about food.
I have one autistic child who has plans to be an engineer. He’d LOVE this challenge :-)
Lorna says
Love it! great work.
We started looking at machines and chain reactions just a week ago with our little science co-op. We will definitely use this as inspiration for when we revisit in the new year. Thanks!
Sally Bosken says
What a great activity! My granddaughter Celeste would love to do this. She would laugh and laugh. I will recommend it to my other grandma friends!
Amanda says
This would be lots of fun to do with my 4 kids. They love constructing things and this looks like so much fun!
Helen Yarbrough says
This is a very good activity for children to learn the process of movement. It would teacher children a science concept into how things move without a machine, or wind. I would love to have this. Children, even girls would like to learn this science concept.
Barbara Fry says
I am a grandmother to 9 wonderful grandchildren, 5 of them aging from 11 months to 5 yrs old, the other 4 are from 12-20 yrs old. I recommend this to my daughter and my daughter-in-law. I found this site when I was looking for ideas on my 1 day a week to blessed with teaching, exploring and learning with my grandchildren. My girls homeschool their children and this site is just amazing and has kept us active and creative together every week. Thank you sharing your creativity with us!
Sara Hyun says
I would recommend it to a friend with an active, curious 7 year old. She homeschools and is always looking for engaging, practical ways to teach science and hand-on experimentation through trial and error processing. Very cool way to make playing also learning!
Barbara Fry says
i love this activity. I am a grandmother of 9 wonderful grandchildren. 5 of which are from 5 yrs old down to 11 months old. The other 4 are from 12-20. I found your website an knew it was for me and my daughter and daughter in law. I have shared your site with them as they home school their children. I am also blessed to be involved 1 day a week with the homeschooling, I get to teach and explore and learn with them. I recommend this activity for them! I’m hoping we can do it on my day with them, it will be such a fun learning experience. Thank you for creating this wonderful site!
Anna says
I would recommend this to my nephew or for my own son. They both really have a “need” to understand the “how” of things lately
Aissa Mitton says
My son would LOVE this! He is into the domino effect concept of things right now and we have been doing activities like these with cards and blocks. It all started with the board game Mousetrap. He also LOVES making ‘inventions’ with different materials that he find lying around, so then it would be even better!!!
Paula says
My soon to be 7 year old would love this activity! He has the mind of an engineer; he’s always figuring out how things work. He is very interested in robotics and mechanics and is very creative. He loves making things that go, puff rockets, catapults, etc. He also loves building things with mega blocks, although he doesn’t have any ramps or other cool pieces that you showed. His 2 year old brother would make a great assistant. He is following in big Bro’s footsteps and is also very good at building. Thank you for this give-a-way. Whomever wins will have a great time and learn a lot!
Amber says
I would recommend this to all my fellow life schoolers, unschoolers, and homeschoolers alike.
Jenn says
My daughter would LOVE doing! She’s super creative and we’re constantly building towers, bridges and building out of blocks.
Amy I says
This would be the perfect activity for my engineer husband and my tinkering 5 year old son! Just the other morning, my son came downstairs and said, “Mom, let’s do something really hard today because doing hard things is fun and doing easy things is not fun at all.” This would be a “hard” and very exciting project for him! Thanks for the great idea!
Rachel Hope says
I would recommend this activity for my son’s and nieces to do together, so everyone gets some hands on learning experience. The older girls could also help my boys figure out a good configuration for the machines. Love this idea might make a good activity to keep kids busy over the holidays.
Saniel says
My son would love to do this activity with his dad, he learned about pulleys on Sid the Science Kid show. He likes to explore and create this would be the perfect project for him. Thanks
Karen Schiller says
I have seen this as a high school level project, but never directed towards the younger age. It makes perfect sense though! I would recommend this to my elementary school teacher friends.
Christina says
I love this! I will need to make some alterations for my 2 year old girl…but she will have so much fun building one.
Bethany says
I would love to see what my hubby and my Four boys would do with a mega cereal pouring machine! I know what I’d do : I’d eat the cereal… With chocolate milk!
Roxanne Drury says
I love the creativity of this idea. I taught preschool for 7 years and used to do a Simple Machines week every year. Wish I had this for those weeks. I am recommending this activity for myself for my in home preschool (I missed the kids after retiring so started one in my home) and will also pass it on to the woman who took over my Pre-K class and another friend who is teaching a Transitional Kindergarten class. I know they will each pass it on to others and that is the goal – teachers sharing with teachers. This is fantastic.
Lori says
Our friends came over yesterday, and their 9-year-old son would love this. He got bored with the regular toys we have for our younger kids (blocks, trains, etc) and could have stayed busy all evening with this.
Lauren Lea Warren says
I would totally recommend this to my nephew, Nicholas!
Kelly Thompson says
This project would be perfect for my sister-in-law to do with my twin 7 yr old nephews, Reece and Riley. She is a wonderful hands-on Mom who enjoys doing projects with my nephews as well as their foster children. My nephews would love building/creating something that actually performed a function and that was used by the entire family on a daily basis.
Ivelina says
I’d love to recommend to my kids and my nephew -all of whom love building machines and exploring how things work. This would be so much fun to do together!!
Heather Munro says
Now this is a fantastic activity for my 2 year old, Zane, and I to work on together! We are always looking for STEM activities we can personalize and make engaging for his age group. Bonus that it’s a potential rainy day activity, as we live in Seattle. Thanks for sharing!
Leanne says
In addition to my son, I would recommend this to everyone, it is a fabulous way to learn about simple machines as well as cause and effect. It will only spark more interest in how things work.
Marian Del Vecchio says
i would love to do it with my son. though he may not fully understand the whole process due , he would definitely have a blast watching it go!
Nicole Lemoncelli says
My son loved the Sesame Street episode that featured Rube Goldberg machines. I would recommend this activity to my son’s preschool teachers as well as my colleague who is a teacher of gifted students.
Donna Allsworth says
I would recommend this for my classroom. This looks like a great way to teach teamwork in my classroom. Students would have to work together and come up with a plan to reach their goal.
Julie says
I am always looking for ways to keep my mechanically inclined 4yr. old daughter and her best friend neighbor 3 yr. old girl interested and entertained, thank you for sharing this step by step rube goldberg machine experiment.
Shannon Clagg says
My daughter – she loves seeing how things move and work.
Crystal says
I have 6 nephews and a little boy of my own that would enjoy this.
Amy Bam says
In addition to my own children, my brothers kids (age 5, 9, and 11) would love, LOVE this! They are all little engineers with a love of science and technology! Yay for STEM teaching toys!!
Janet says
One of the children in my class would love this. He is always coming up with things to build in the block center. I allow him to use his creativity and imagination and the wildest things that he can come up with just amazes me.
Nancy Barth says
I’ve always had a fascination with Rube Goldberg machines. My grandson seems to have picked up on that and we enjoy making contraptions. This would be a really fun activity for us to do together.
beth c says
i would love to do this with my son! he would love to see the cause & effect, and he absolutely loves anything legoesque so that would be fun to try it with! i have always loved rube goldberg machines and it will be so fun to try this out! :) thanks!
Debbie says
My boys would love this. Would recommend to my brother so he can do it with his daughter.
J.C. says
I would LOVE to try this with my Lego-obsessed, cereal-loving 8-year-old!
Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti says
This looks like a fun activity to do with my 2 young grandsons, and to recommend to my daughter-in-law who teaches pre-school, to do with her 4-5 year old class!
Krista says
How do you make kids love to learn? Make it hands-on, participatory fun! A perfect STEM activity that really engages kids of all ages – can’t wait to try this with the kids at my library!
Patricia says
Very Creative! I would use this with my 4 kids and share it with the parents of the kids I work with. I am an Occupational Therapist and am always looking for activities to try with my kids and the ones I work with to promote activities that are fun, skill builders and build parent child relationships. Thank you
Tracy says
My boys would love this! They love doing new things and building!
Apeksha says
I will recommend to my son for learning and fun.
Rene says
Oh how fun! Just last night I was looking at different science/engineering kits as potential x-mas gifts for my 6year daughter. Unlike myself she is really into math and technical experiments so I have been on the lookout for ways to encourage this part of her. Thanks for sharing!
L Beth Stone says
I recommend this to myself!! what great fun to enjoy with my grand-kids. Learning, fun and great together time! Please pick me!
Jennifer says
Besides my own kids, I would recommend this to my cousin Ashley, whose son would totally love to build something like this. He is really creative!
Kirsyin says
My nephews would love to try and put something like this together!!!
Danielle Jones says
This would be good for my son and his best friend to make on a weekend at our house. They need something constructive to do when their here.
Cathy says
I would recommend this to my son. He’s so curious and really tries to figure out things work. this would blow his mind!
Jessica says
Eeek! Oh my goodness, this activity is RIGHT UP my 6 year olds’ alley! He would love doing this! I’m going to share this activity with the Gifted and Talented teachers at his school. It would be a perfect enrichment activity for them!
Rachael Fernandez says
Great problem solving and it looks like you all worked together and had fun doing it. I know I would use this, I would start the trigger from my bed and lead it to the kitchen to pour cereal and start the coffee machine! Then I am ready to start the day ;)
Alechia Fludd says
This is awesome! I think this is a cool project for kids ages 7 and up. Kids that are interested in how things work and manipulating materials would love this. This coould also be a family project that you could give younger children the easy task and let the older kids and adults have the more tedious and time consuming task. This is a good idea that definitely gets the mom stamp of approval.
Cleaninup Kate says
The engineer in me says: cool!
The mom in me says: too bad General Mills didn’t provide any healthy cereals.
Ann says
This would be a fun activity for my students to work on when there is inside recess. They will have to work as a team which I like to promote in my classroom. I am hoping that there won’t be many of those, but we do live in Iowa!
Leigh Anne Borders says
This is super cool! I would and will share this with my students! I can only imagine what fun they would have with this! I may even ask for pictures or videos!
Nova says
I would recommend this for my grandson. He loves cars, trucks, and anything that moves and makes noise. He would get such a kick out of this and I would love helping build and enjoy it also! Thank you so much for the great giveaway…
Susana Alverdi says
I would recommend this activity for preschooler and kindergarteners.
Irina O'Brien says
I really love this cause-and-effect activity! My 3.5-year old son always asks me to do experiments and we’ve done quite a few over the last few months. He says himself (sometimes, when he’s doing things he’s not supposed to): “But mom, I’m just curious!” I could see him building a Rube Goldberg machine like this one with his 11- and 8-year old cousins, who love building and are curious by nature themselves. Thanks for sharing and motivating us!
Ashlee Gaucher says
Being an OTA student I would use this to teach and help my patients who have had a stroke and are affected on their dominate side that way they could enjoy a firmiliar food again. I would also suggest this to my copd patients who just don’t have enough energy to lift the box. Finally I would use this with my school aged kids for fun and to help them problem solve.
Lisa says
Oh, my grandson loves mega blocks and I could see if having a great time building this. I will plan something like this when my three other grandchildren come to visit. It would be a blast!
Crystal says
I would love this for myself. I teach self-contained special education and I teach simple machines every year. This would be an AWESOME hands-on activity to do with my students! I could really see them getting int it and understanding how simple machines work.
Sandy Taylor says
My two boys would love this. They are 12 and 8. I would have to include my best friend and her 2 kids (6 & . 12) we would have a blast watching and helping them build! Thanks for sharing!
Niciole says
I would (and am going to) send this to my girls (12 & 9), they LOVE building things! This will be an awesome homeschool project!
Chelsie says
I would recommend this activity to my stepdaughter. She says her favorite subject is science and she usually enjoys when I come up with little experiments for us to do. I know she would love this!
Amy says
So fun! I would share with my nephews I think they would love it!
Aletha says
My kiddos are too young to build this on their own, but I’ve got a couple of older nieces/budding scientists that would get a kick out of this. And I’m definitely pinning this to use later. Thanks for sharing and love all of your ideas!
amy williams says
Oh wow!! This looks like so much fun even my older boy would enjoy this he is always trying to get me to do things like this lol he just brought out his tablet and showed me how to make cake in an egg they would love this. Thanks for sharing your ideas.
Kim says
Fun! I’d suggest sending to my business partner. We own a PR a agency together and her children – 6 and 8 – are really into problem solving, building and new projects. Can’t wait until my boys get a little older to try this kind of stuff out. Kim
Jeannie Connor says
I am recommending this to all my homeschool and home daycare friends! This is a great fun way to recycle and do science!!
Nona says
I teach preschool in bush Alaska, on a small island in the Bering Straits. I have 20 preschool students who would love to explore and use this. I can just see using this during breakfast and them moving it to our center time. Even if we don’t win, this will be something I plan to create.
Jeannie Connor says
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Lisa Brann says
I will recommend this to my 1st grade teacher friends and to a friend who homechools her 3 kids I’m always interested in hands on earning activities!!.
Jeannie Connor says
My boys would LOVE this project! It would make breakfast time so much fun too!
Carrie Barron says
Awesome! I went to Purdue University and had several friends who were engineering students, so I was no stranger to the Rube Goldberg contest. My son is only 10 months old, but I would love for him to try something like this when he is older. I would recommend this to a several friends.
Corry Dahl says
My 2 boys would love this toy. They would love it because it looks very creative and fun!
Trish says
This is awesome! I would love to try this with my own kids when they get a little older. Till than I will be sharing this with my fb friends. HOW FUN!!! :) Thanks for sharing!
Robin Montenegro says
I L.O.V.E. this! What a great idea! I can’t wait to try building our own version with my 5yo son. He is always building things out of recyclables and scraps, and sets up domino trails and races. He is going to be so excited, he is very science/physics orientated, very creative! I will definitely recommend this to my good friends, the Lopez’s. They homeschool and are always engaging the kids in hands on, fun science activities. They have 4 kids, 3yo thru 12yo. I would be so interested to see what the older boys would come up with! I will also share this idea with my brother, Stephen, who grew up making all kinds of inventions, homemade rockets and such, and is still a kid at heart. He will get a kick out of making this with my 2yo nephew, who is so into cars and making tracks, he’d flip over watching this in action!!!! :) Thanks for all you do and share, Miss Jamie!!!
Raven Campbell says
This looks very cool and fun…my brother would love to do something like this.. .i just may try it myself lol
Michelle Canavan says
I would engage my daughters in this activity and probably their favorite pals Ethan and Andrew. We are trying to hook up with other folks who like to tinker but it’s been a challenge for us.bwe are just shy of 4yrs old do maybe it is an age thing. I would love some resources to get other kiddos and parents excited about this type of play
Heather says
This is great! I would absolutely recommend this to the teachers at the pre – k to second grade school that my kids go to! Also, my friend and her family all love to build and engineer things! They would love this!!
shelly says
this would be a great activity for all of my grandkids. it encompasses all their favorite activities: building, legos, mechanical things. they love how to’s
Anja says
Thanks for this great idea! My son has his dass “engineer-genes” and we are always looking for fun things to build with him
Tammy says
I would share this with my son’s kindergarten teacher so that she could work it into a lesson plan for the whole class. My son loves watching the opening sequence to Elementary because of their elaborate Ruth Goldberg Machine. He would be ALL over this!
Becky says
Oh my goodness! How much fun – for any kid or adult!!
I am definitely gong to be trying this soon with my boys(7 and 5).
Thanks so much.
Marti Anderson says
I would recommend this activity to any teacher or parent who values hands-on learning experiences.
Nicole Mendez says
This looks awesome! My son loves science, and any type of ramps, so I would recommend this to Alejandro, my 5 year old son. We would have a blast doing this together.
amy tolley says
these is a cute idea my boys would love this even the older ones in my house i could even see my daughter gettin in on this thanks for sharing
Susan says
This looks like so much fun! I will recommend this to my niece who homeschools her daughters so they can learn cause and effect, recycling and vocabulary all in one project. You can’t get much better than that – except that this really can span the ages as well – which she needs. Her girls range from 3 to 11 years old.
Angela says
I am a teacher and at my school we hold stem days. This would be the perfect activity to get the kiddos up and actively working though a problem. I hope I win
Julie U says
Very cool! My kids would love it!
Kristin says
I will recommend this activity to my Mommy Groups. We love to teach our children through play. This will teach our children to be inventive, creative and fun ways to recycle.
Jennifer says
What a fun idea! I would definitely recommend this activity to my close friend who is a new stay-at-home mom. Between her car (and cereal) obsessed 2.5-year-old and her science teacher husband, this is a sure winner! I’d also suggest this activity to my local Michigan library that is always organizing learning activities for children. They have a “Lego” group that would love to take the challenge! Lastly, I’d suggest PBS.org get a group of children to complete a similar activity. They are good at promoting critical thinking and trail/error activities for kids of all ages. Thanks again; I love it!
Amanda Scheerer says
I am a family support worker and work with many low income and otherwise stressed families. One of the things that I do is give families creative ideas for ways to play with their children and make them think outside of the box. This activity is a big winner and I would love to be able to share it with them.
Alissia says
My good friend Nikema would be great for this. She’s a home schooling extraordinaire with 7 kids. They would love this!
Suzanne Hassinger says
My son would love the challenge to make this. It is a good creative project!
Michelle Scott says
I think this activity would be loved by all, the young and young at heart! It looks super cool to put together (with your handy dandy instructions) and to play with! What an amazing idea! Thanks to your site, you allow me to keep my sanity and my kids engaged in many many activities!
Mindy says
My daughter’s class completed in Rube Goldberg competition and got 2nd place in the district (IL). It would be pretty cool do create our own Rube Goldberg machine here at home!
Jessica H. says
I think this would be a great activity for my girls because it encourages creativity, planning, and mechanical skills. I also think this would be a fun group activity for the holidays to keep everyone entertained while waiting for dinner.
Kim Grandy says
My children are always intrigued with things like this, I’m showing them tomorrow after their half day of school. We will see what they come up with. :)
Jenn says
I would recommend this to science teachers of older students as a team building exercise and for teaching about science! (like kinetic energy)
Kimberly Bauer says
I would recommend this to my 10 year old daughter. She loves a challenge and is crazy about mazes and the Rube Goldberg Machine has the same concept. Great job with the boys and building their own:)
BELINDA WONG says
Great visual tool for teaching my child/grandchild about cause & effect! Hope we Win!!! ;-D
Sharon Carpenter says
I would recommend this for my daughter and son. Both of them are intrigued by science and technology and this marries them both awesomely! I’d also recommend this to my nephews and nieces, they are all at the age of enjoying and learning from experiments!
Stephanie Easterling says
This would be so great for my 1st grader. he loves every thing hands on. I would recommend this activity to his classroom teacher. I think they would have a ball doing this.
Christina says
My godson would enjoy this.
Cindy Higgins says
Can’t wait to show this to my grand daughters – looks like a fun way to learn about simple machines as well as cause and effect!
Brie says
This is a great activity because it shows multiple things, cause and effect, how simple machines work, and creative thinking. I would highly recommend this to any parent with children learning how things work.
Summer Belloni says
What a great idea! I would recommend this to my son’s Kindergarten teacher because she is always doing great hands in learning with her class. This would be great for their science simple machines projects! :) maybe they could figure out a way to dispense snacks, or crayons :)
Laurie says
This is amazing! My husband is a math teacher and he would LOVE to work on this with our little girl. If Viv gets good at Rube Goldberg she might even produce an OK GO video in the future. I would recommend this because once you can master simple machines you might just be on your way to a future in engineering! Thanks for the inspiration.
Beverly Chisnall says
I would recommend my grand daughter and grandson.. I will even love it,,
Marlene price says
Fab just fab my son woul love x
Sravani says
We love ur idea. I will do this one with my 2.8 years kid and we love playing like this and encourage her to eat her breakfast in a playful way.
Suzanne G says
I would recommend this for my son who loves to see these things at work a la Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and my husband who likes to figure these things out :)
Anne says
I would totally recommend this to the parents of my daughter’s preschool friends. You’re never too young to start building machines!
Jenna says
I would totally recommend this to my husband and son. My son’s youngish for it, but he would be amazed to see what daddy built! And what a way to get his inquisitive mind going!
payal says
My son and my husband because they both love to build machines.
Stephanie Phelps says
Oh my goodness my boys and I would love to do this together how much fun!
Georgina says
This looks like SO much fun! I’m sending the link now to my husband – he loves tinkering in his workshop and I’m sure this will inspire him!
Jessica says
I would recommend this to my sister because my nephew would love it!
Amanda Jordan says
I would recommend this to my sister. She is a mom of 3 boys and 1 girl and I know they would love it!
Erin B. says
I would recommend this to my nephews! They love doing stuff like this :)
Brandy Fisk says
My son and his cousin because they are do into this.
Clark Gillette says
I would recommend this to anyone who has children who love to build anything, especially those who love Legos!
Rach D says
This is SO cool!! My boys would love to do something like this :) How incredible to be ‘challenged’, and hopefully compensated, to do something so fun for a sponsored post!! I love this :)
Thanks so much for linking up at Inspired By Me Mondays, and hope you join us again this week!
Rachael
Allison Hendrix says
My boys are dying laughing over the video. This is the coolest thing they have ever seen. The are currently emptying all of my boxes of cereal in the kitchen. :-)
Jamie Reimer says
Sweet!!!!
Jillian says
How cool! My kids would love to watch the video and create their own Rube Goldberg Machine! Thanks for sharing the idea.
Jamie Reimer says
Thanks Jill :)
Sheila @ BrainPowerBoy says
Stopping over from #laughlearnlinkup. This is great! We love Rube Goldberg and really enjoyed your idea.
Jamie Reimer says
Thanks Sheila!
Anne at Left Brain Craft Brain says
LOVE THIS!! Soooo much fun. We love building machines at our house -and- cereal and will have to try this.
Jamie Reimer says
Thanks Anne. You’ll love doing this!