Simple Machines Theme
Launch into learning with a hands-on simple machines theme. Your little one’s curiosity and imagination will be sparked.
Why Teach Preschoolers about Simple Machines
Invites Curiosity and Exploration
What isn’t to love about the mystery of how balls roll down a ramp or how levers on the playground work?
Once little ones know about simple machines, they will start to see them everywhere.
This may call for a trip to the playground to see simple machines at work.😉
Encourage Problem- Solving Skills
Kids can see and experiment with how simple machines make jobs easier, fostering problem-solving skills.
They can see that a level makes lifting a load easier, and they may want to see what else they can use to lift things.
Strengthens Fine and Gross Motor Skills
Pushing, pulling, rolling, and sliding are all actions that simple machines (and kids) can do to help support their motor development.
Whether you are doing simple machine theme activities on a small scale with magnet tiles or on a larger scale using their bodies, little ones will be working on their fine and gross motor skills.
Builds Vocabulary and Early Math and Science Skills
Words like fulcrum, lever, wheel, weight, and force can all help describe the work that simple machines do.
All of these simple machines theme activities help to lay the groundwork for math and science skills.
This article may contain affiliate links to products that may help you when homeschooling preschool.
Books to Use with a Simple Machines Theme
Here are a few books to add to a simple machines theme.
Simple Machines: Wheels, Levers, and Pulleys
Wheels Make The World Go Round
Rube Goldberg’s Simple Humdrum School Day
Simple Machines Theme Activities
Rolling Pin Fun
Rolling pins are a wonderful example of wheel and axel. Let little ones make cut-out cookies and use the rolling pin to help flatten the dough.
You can also use play dough if you want them to be able to do this activity more independently.
Ramp Races
Gather vehicles with wheels (buses, trucks, tractors, etc) and race down a wooden or cardboard ramp. Try with balls and other items to see how the size, shape, and weight affect the speed and distance the item can travel.
Let littles try to roll down a stuffed animal so they can see firsthand what happens. Encourage scientific thinking and prediction-making.
Bucket on a Pulley
Attach a rope to a bucket handle. Throw the rope over something high (like a tree branch or the top bunk on a bunk bed). You can also try putting the rope over a rolling pin that someone else holds still while the bucket is lifted.
Add items like a stuffy to the bucket and have your preschooler pull the rope to lift the bucket.
Lever Launcher
Make a DIY catapult and let little ones launch pom poms or mini marshmallows.
Toy Teeter Totter
Place a rock or box on the ground to create a fulcrum. Add a long, sturdy board on top so the rock is under the board in the middle.
Add a toy to one side and push down on the other end of the board. Try adding more (or different) toys.
Experiment with rocks or boxes of different sizes (the fulcrum). Little ones can also try moving the fulcrum closer to one side of the board to see how this changes how the teether totter moves.
Pom Pom Slide
Use toilet paper tubes cut in half lengthwise. Attach the tubes end to end with tape. Use paper towel tubes as support to make the slide taller at one end.
Have your preschooler put a pom pom or small ball at the top of the slide and let it roll down.
Paper Plate HDon’thooling
Grab a colored pencil, two paper plates, and some yarn. Poke a hole in the middle of each of the paper plates. Stick the colored pencil through the holes so one paper plate is at each end of the pencil.
Attach yarn to the middle of the colored pencil to use as a way to pull the wheel.
Slide Painting
Apply some globs of paint to the top of a slide (or ramp made out of cardboard). Roll a ball or toy vehicle through the paint and down the slide.
Grab the item and bring it back to the top of the ramp. Continue to slide it down until the slide (or ramp) is colorful.
Use water to clean the slide off. 😉
Clothes Pin Car
Make a simple machines theme car by using a clothespin, four buttons, two twist ties, a plastic straw, and a dab of glue.
Log Splitting
Roll play dough into logs. Use a popsicle stick or butter knife as an ax (a wedge) to split the ‘logs’.
Preschool Theme about Simple Machines
Plan out a fun and inviting simple machines theme for your preschooler with ease. Grab a themed book and a few activities, and your little one will be busy building and inventing all afternoon.
