Trial and Error - Making a Candy Collecting Machine

Our Science Friday experiment was extremely SWEET! Our students were given a pile of materials including a milk carton, a piece of string, construction paper, scissors and tape, and brainstormed within their groups to come up with a "candy collector machine". They were challenged to create a machine that could lift a lifesaver type candy without using their hands. Immediately, children started talking excitedly about possible solutions to this sticky problem.


After discussing and trying different hypotheses, the students were then led step-by-step to each make a machine with a pinwheel attached to one end of the pencil (wheel and axle) and a string attached to the other. By blowing on the pinwheel, the pencil turned and twisted the string around - lifting the candy as it did so. Sweet success!