Race Car Ramps

Race Car Ramps – Let’s Roll!

Materials:

• Toy cars (Hot Wheels or Matchbox Cars are a good size)
• Small balls such as pom poms, ping pong balls or tennis balls
• Plastic drinking cup (especially fun if the top of the cup has a bigger diameter than the bottom!)
• A variety of materials such as:
  1. Paper towel or toilet paper tubes
  2. Pieces of stiff cardboard
  3. A book or two
  4. Wooden blocks
  5. Other household objects like empty tissue boxes, poster tubes, or even a chair might come in handy!
• An adult to play with you

What to do:

1. Think about how different objects move.  What part helps a car to roll?
2. Use your found materials to see if you can set up a ramp that allows your car to roll downhill.  For instance, you might prop a book or a stiff piece of cardboard on a stack of blocks or the rung of a chair.  
3. How fast does your car go?  How far?
4. Can you change your ramp to make your car go faster?  Go further?
5. What happens when you send one of your balls down the ramp?
6. What happens when you roll your plastic cup down the ramp?  Does it move in the same way as your cars or balls?  
7. Can you make a tunnel for your car or balls?  
8. What other materials could you use to make your ramp better?