the ball run part II

In a previous post I talked about the children's first real experience with creating a ball run. I had been studying the book, Ramps & Pathways: a constructivist approach to physics with young children and accidentally left the book in the block area with the ramps. One of our children got a hold of it and began leafing through the pages until he came upon a photo of a child who set up what he called a, "domino" ramp (p. 55). Using the photo as reference, the children seemed on fire as they created their own domino ramp.

The children encountered a problem, however. They had difficulty knocking down the first block. Instead of experimenting with ramp height as the children in the photo did, my children experimented with different kinds of balls.

In this photo the yellow Nerf ball just bounced off the block:

The cork ball didn't work either:

 

Eventually they discovered a heavy metal ball (the jingly kind you roll around in your hand to relax) that did the job.

Alas, I did not record their words as they were moving fast and I was tyring to catch up with my camera. Oh, the trouble with documentation!

The end!