Mechanical toys

This week we learned how to design, operate, and build a mechanical toy.

First, the children were introduced to the various cam mechanisms and about controlling movement with a cam mechanism as part of a simple toy. 

This was followed by the workshop leader demonstrating a cam-operated toy and asking the children to describe how it worked.   A computer simulation was then used to demonstrate the effect of different cam shapes.

After that, the children were tasked to design and make their own toys from cardboard based on the mechanical knowledge they learned from the lecture and demonstration.

Tiger's mechanical toy shows a man climbing up and sliping down the side of a mountain.

This post is linked up to several blog hops, where you can see what other homeschoolers have been busy with.