Make a ramp using an old plank or a sheet of metal and you have usually bought yourself a few good hours of happy play time. Children love to hurl things down a ramp – whether it’s a car, a ball, or maybe some water and washing up liquid. Why is it so engaging? Because as always they are conducting scientific research, in this case, learning about gravity.
What slides down fastest? A big car or a small one? A heavy one or a light one? Will something without wheels slide down? What if the ramp is wet? Covered in oil? In sandpaper? The questions and possibilities are endless and that’s precisely why it is so much fun.
Tip: turn your ramp into a bridge and explore which items travel fastest/slowest, which ones fit under it and which don’t?
