Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2018 i Click Science and Discovery Magazine for Preschoolers and Young Children

Click Science and Discovery Magazine for Preschoolers and Young Children|April 2018

Meet the Machines

A machine is any tool that makes work easier. Now when I say work, I don’t mean jobs or chores. I’m talking about what scientists call work: making something move. There are six kinds of simple machines, but each can be used in lots of different ways. What makes them simple? Easy, they have just a few or no moving parts. A ramp doesn’t move, but it helps you move things. Roxy is too heavy for me to lift straight up from the floor. But I can push her up a ramp onto the table. A ramp doesn’t have to be straight. It can turn around and around, like the path up a mountain. A screw is a pole with a kind of ramp winding around it. But it doesn’t…

2 min

Click Science and Discovery Magazine for Preschoolers and Young Children|April 2018

Operation: Rescue Possum

One day when Jakey went outside to play, he found a possum in the window well. “Hello, possum,” Jakey said. “You look stuck. How did you get down there, anyhow?” The possum hissed at Jakey. “Whoa, possum,” said Jakey. He backed away. This possum didn’t look cozy and friendly like the possums in his picture books. Jakey’s big brothers came around the corner of the house. “Whatcha got there, Jakey?” they said. “A stuck possum,” Jakey said. “We’ve got to get that possum out!” Artie and Danny said. “Time for Operation: Rescue Possum!” They hurried to their workshop in the barn. When Jakey followed, Artie and Danny were already hard at work drawing up plans. “We don’t want to touch the possum,” Artie said. “It might bite. Besides, it looks…

2 min

Click Science and Discovery Magazine for Preschoolers and Young Children|April 2018

Did you find these kitchen helpers?

The paper towel roll spins around the bar that goes through its middle. It’s a wheel. The blade of a knife is a wedge. You push the wedge through food to slice or chop. An oven door is a lever that pivots on a hinge. A pulley and cord raise and lower window blinds. The point of a pushpin is a wedge. It’s easy to push the sharp point into a corkboard. The bottom of a lightbulb is a screw. A rolling pin is a tube-shaped wheel that turns around the handles, the axle. The bottom of a sink might look flat, but it’s really a ramp. If the sink bottom didn’t slope down to the drain, the water wouldn’t flow out. Because it slopes upward, a staircase is a…

1 min

Click Science and Discovery Magazine for Preschoolers and Young Children|April 2018

Loads of Levers

You need: • ruler (the lever) • marker (the fulcrum) • can or block (the load) • rubber bands (to attach the load) The fulcrum is the place the lever sits and pivots. It doesn’t move. You supply the effort at the place you push or pull the lever. The load is the thing that gets moved. A seesaw, a door, a baseball bat—they’re all levers, but each belongs to a different class. These classes aren’t like the ones in school. Instead, they tell you where the lever’s fulcrum, effort, and load are. Try these activities to see what the differences are. 1 In a first-class lever, the fulcrum is always between the effort and the load. When you push the empty end of the ruler down, you supply the effort, and the can…

2 min

Click Science and Discovery Magazine for Preschoolers and Young Children|April 2018

The Great Pyramid Mystery

The Great Pyramid of Egypt was built more than 4,500 years ago. Nearly 500 feet high, it’s taller than a 40-story skyscraper. For more than 4,000 years, it held the record for the world’s tallest structure. Now thousands of buildings stand even higher, but they were built with machines powered by engines and electricity. The ancient Egyptians didn’t have those. How did they cut and move more than 2 million giant stone blocks? Most of the blocks weigh more than 2 tons, as much as a small car. Some weigh more than 50 tons. How did workers lift them so high and stack them in just the right place? Scientists and historians have lots of ideas, but no one knows for sure. Everyone agrees, however, that it took a lot…

1 min

Click Science and Discovery Magazine for Preschoolers and Young Children|April 2018

Crash and Spin

Make these screwy flying toys, and see what happens when you drop them. 1. Cut out the yellow rectangle on the solid black lines. 2. Cut along the solid red lines. Fold along the blue dotted lines, so the flaps overlap. 3. Fold the bottom up along the orange dotted line, and put a paper clip on it. 4. For each of the three remaining rectangles, repeat steps 1, 2, and 3, then cut along the solid purple line and fold along the green dotted line so one wing points toward you and the other away from you. 5. Lift the toys high, and let them drop. When you drop the yellow toy, it comes crashing down. When you drop the other toys, they turn around and around like a…

1 min