Lesson 43 of 84 · Simple Machines

Lesson⭐ 30 XP🛠️ Engineer Shop

Balls That Bounce (Part 2)

🧪Lab Brief #43

Simple Machines.

🎯 Your mission

Learn the rule. Then catch nature using it.

⚡ The twist

The first design always fails. That's the point.

🤯

Mind = Blown

🚀 The Saturn V rocket burned 20 tons of fuel per second at liftoff.

🔮

Make a hypothesis first

Guess: what's the weakest part of this build?

What You'll Learn

Rubber balls bounce because they are stretchy and springy.

Key Words

heavy
light

Steps

Step 1 — Read

Say the vocabulary words out loud. Can you repeat them?

Step 2 — Do

Roll a ball down a ramp. Try making the ramp steeper. What happens?

Step 3 — Observe

Use your eyes, ears, and hands to explore. What do you notice?

Step 4 — Record

Color a picture to show what happened.

Check Your Understanding

Question 1

1 of 3

What makes a swing go?

How sure are you going to be?😐 maybe

🌍

Where you see this in real life

Your phone, your bike, your shoes — all designed with this idea.

🏆

Stretch Challenge

Try this in real life this week.

Build something — anything — out of stuff in your recycling bin.

👨‍👩‍👧

For the dinner table

“What's something around the house you'd redesign — and how?”

🎯

Next Smart Experiment

We'll pick an experiment that matches exactly how you're thinking right now.

🪨Share card

Share this experiment

Send it to a parent who's looking for a 10-minute kitchen science win.

🖨️

Checkout complete lesson on Simple Machines for Pre-School

Get the full Simple Machines track as a printable PDF — all lessons, worksheets, and answer keys.

View in Shop

Done with science? Try something else

🎮Science Games 🔢Math 📖Flashcards 🖨️Print Worksheet 💻Coding 🛍️Shop 🎲I'm Bored