Marble-Water Launcher

Posted: June 30, 2011 | Author: Jena | Filed under: Experimentation, Small Motor Skill, Water Play, Working Together | 8 Comments »

We find this set at the recycle center and know just what we can do with them.
See Curious George Episode, “Plumber’s Helper” Season 2: Episode 10.
The little skit after the cartoon shows children using PVC pipes and beads to play with water.

This is the first time we take out these tubes and connectors to play.
I put them all together using every tube and connector to make a very long and zig-zaggy maze.
There are dead ends in the maze and more than one open tube.

I want to create a fun challenge for J, so I ask,
“What would happen if we put water through it?

We aim the final opening towards the kiddie pool and give a try.
The water goes all the way through the tubes and into the kiddie pool.

“Let’s see what would happen if we put a marble in the tubes.”
We use the hose, attempting to shoot the marbles all the way through the maze and into the pool.

We try 3 different sized marbles. Some work, some get stuck some of the time and some don’t go through at all, creating a build up in pressure and bursting the connectors. This gives us a chance to rebuild and problem solve using our trial and error skills.

The connector with the 4 way intersection gives us the most trouble with the marbles, so we eliminate them all. This helps the smallest marbles travel through with ease.

J takes all the pieces apart and is left with an “L” shaped tube. He calls this his launcher…uncomplicated, efficient and fast.
It shoots marbles into the pool with only a small blast of water. The most successful maze so far, and J builds it himself.

Cousin R joins the fun and with R comes some new materials, beads, buttons and, what else, water balloon bits.
See previous balloon posts to see what we’ve been up to with water balloons and their leftovers bits. You can use the search engine, and look up, balloons.

Cousin R builds a tube maze that stands against the porch rail. We use duct tape to make it steady. We think gravity helps with the experiment because the marbles, balloons and beads have no problem getting through the 4 way connectors this time around.

We learn a lot of stuff, but these are the lessons that stand out for me…

We learn that when you stuff too many objects or big objects in the tube, it can get jammed up.
We learn that water is a strong force.
We learn that the 4 ways don’t work well when using maze flat.
We learn that gravity helps.
We have lots of fun with water on a hot day.

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