Balancing Act

Today, we began our first science unit, called Balance And Motion. The unit lasts for a few months, and is a great hands-on kit. To introduce the concept of balance, the kids were given a cardboard crayfish (crawdad?), a popsicle stick, and some tape. They taped the stick down to their desks & tried to make that crayfish balance all by itself.

Malia gets all set up:

After a few unsuccessful attempts at getting that crayfish to balance on its nose, all by itself, I passed out 2 clothespins to help with the balancing trick. (These will soon be referred to as counterweights, but that's later in the unit.)

After realizing that the clothespins had to hang down below the weight of the crayfish's nose (which will be referred to as the balance point later on), just about everyone got the hang of it!

We talked about how when something is balanced, it is STABLE. It may be a little bit wobbly, but it doesn't fall down. We could blow lightly on the crayfish, and it would wobble, but it did stay on the stick. Same idea with tight-rope walkers & gymnasts!

Next week, we will try to balance different shapes on a stick, using our new-found knowledge of counterweights & balance points...so stay tuned!

**Shameless plug** : If you have any toys or activities at home that involve balance, (think: Jenga, tops, etc.) and if you're willing to loan them to our class for a few days, we'd love to see what's out there!