The Homeschool Resource

• Simple machines – pulley, lever, wheel and axle, inclined plane, wedge, and screw -are ancient foundational tools that make work easier and are essential for understanding more complex machines.

• Studying everyday simple machines helps children develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills while introducing them to basic engineering concepts.

• Teaching with hands-on activities and real-world examples using common household items help children connect these concepts to everyday life and encourage curiosity and understanding.

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Teaching Simple Machines

Simple machines are fundamental tools that have been used for thousands of years to make work easier. These basic tools form the foundation of the more complex machines that we use today. The six basic simple machines are the pulley, lever, wheel and axle, inclined plane, wedge, and screw.

Learning about simple machines lays a foundation for understanding how the world works and introduces children to basic engineering concepts. Studying simple machines allows children to use problem-solving skills to come up with ideas on how to make tasks easier to complete. Identifying how simple machines are used in different situations encourages critical thinking skills and can help children better understand objects around them.

When teaching simple machines to your students, it is important to use hands-on activities and real-world examples. This provides both fun and education and allows your child to better relate these concepts to their everyday lives. You can start the lessons by introducing the six types of simple machines using everyday objects such as scissors, ramps, and doorknobs. Dive deeper into the lesson by having them use household items like blocks or string to build a simple machine such as a seesaw or a pulley. Ask them questions about how these tools can make work easier and encourage curiosity and critical thinking by allowing them to use the tools in creative ways. By using age-appropriate learning materials and interactive lessons, your children will grasp the mechanical principles behind simple machines while sparking their interest in science and engineering.

Fun Activities

Simple machine lessons can be taught in a variety of ways. Age-appropriate videos, informative passages, and hands-on activities are all great ways to teach your child about these concepts. Here are some of my family’s favorites:

• Kid-Friendly videos such as Solving Problems with Simple Machines by SciShow Kids, Simple Machines for Kids ) by Learn Bright, and What are Simple Machines? by Peekaboo Kidz provide children with facts and information about simple machines and how they ease our work loads.
• Online games help teach kids about simple machines in a more interactive way. EdHeads Simple Machines and PBSKids Oddsquad Obstacle Course are fun games for your kids to play while learning about simple machines and how they are used.
• Hands-on activities provide learning opportunities to help make abstract concepts more concrete and understandable. They also help children to connect what they are learning to the world around them. Simple machines lessons offer various ways to foster learning and creativity through hands-on activities. You can work together to make simple machines like an inclined plane with wood, cardboard or books or a pulley system with string, a spool, and a sand bucket.
• You can also take your lessons outside to find simple machines in the world around you. Let your child look around your neighborhood to find examples of simple machines. The ramp up to the movie theatre is an inclined plane, the crane in town has a pulley, a bicycle going down the sidewalk has a wheel and axle. Have your child not only point out the simple machines but also how they make work easier for those that are using them.

Using a combination of different information-rich resources and hands-on engagements makes learning fun and will create lasting memories that your child will carry with them.

My Simple Machines Packet

Learning about simple machines is not only a requirement for all students but also an important lesson in the basics of engineering. Lessons going over these science concepts should not only be educational but will be better received if they are also fun. That’s why I created a worksheet pages packet to keep your children engaged in the lesson and ready to learn more.

My packet contains 5 colorful pages of educational and engaging worksheets, a poster, and a Rube Goldberg experiment template. One of the worksheets is a crossover to pair with ELA. It asks the students to think about ways that they use simple machines in their everyday lives. This helps students with brainstorming and writing skills and lets you take the lesson a little further in your school day.

This is the simple machines poster to hang in your classroom. It will help your student remember the 6 main types of simple machines. Your child can use this as a reference for the duration of the unit, or you can leave it up for the rest of the school year as a reminder of these particular lessons.

The Simple Machine Matching page gives students several pictures and asks them to match the picture to the corresponding simple machine type. This will get them critically thinking about normal everyday objects and how they help to ease workload.

The Identify Simple Machines worksheet has your student choosing a simple machine from the word bank that best describes a picture. This shows more everyday objects and how they are simple machines in disguise.

My full packet contains these pages as well as, 2 simple machines cut-and-paste pages split into the lever family and the inclined planes family, a brainstorming writing activity asking for ideas of simple machines that they use in their everyday life, and a Rube Goldberg Machine experiment template. You can find the link to this packet below.

Have you found a fun and captivating way to teach your child about simple machines? If so, share your lesson ideas with the community in the comments below.