Make a Rube Goldberg Machine

Rube Goldberg machines are machines that perform a certain task by using chain reactions. There are many different ways to build Rube Goldberg machines which is great because it leaves students room to explore and make each project different from another one. This is a great STEM project because it incorporates science, technology, engineering and math. Students must perform trials to test their hypothesis, and retest them to improve what they think will work to perform the task. They must also plan out how far each object in their chain reaction can be from each other and how exactly to build it to perform it's task most effectively.
When introducing this project students should watch a video of a Rube Goldberg machine in action to build excitement for what they are doing and then be introduced to the problem their machine will be solving. These problems could include:

• Pop a balloon
• Blow out a candle
• Close a door
• Water a plant
• Crack an egg

Students can use ramps, drops, swinging objects or basically anything else they can imagine to build their machine.The awesome thing about this project is students can use almost any materials to build their machines so it does not have to be too costly if students choose materials that are already available or cheap to purchase. These machines are very neat to see in action but work best with older students. These students will love solving problems with their simple machines and will learn a lot from this activity.

https://tinkerlab.com/engineering-kids-rube-goldberg-machine/