Explore Simple Machines with paper and build a playground. This guided packet teaches versatile shapes to create paper models of simple machines. Engineering with Paper project packets include Technique pages that teach dozens of approaches to folding and cutting paper for use in unlimited projects. Build your own toys, games, models and more!
We recommend printing your packet without scaling. Pages are sized to 8.5" x 11" paper.
No printer? No problem! You can follow all instructions on-screen. Use scrap paper, manila folders, cereal boxes in your projects!
Included:
Technique pages: Basic Shapes, Tracks
Projects pages with project examples and guide
Template pages with ready to cut shapes for building a samples project
Student worksheet
Additional Supplies Needed:
Scissors, tape, markers or colored pencils or crayons (optional)
This project meets these NGSS standards:
NGSS4-PS3-2
Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents. Assessment does not include quantitative measurements of energy.
NGSS3-5-ETS1-2
Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
NGSS2-PS1-3
Make observations to construct an evidence-based account of how an object made of a small set of pieces can be disassembled and made into a new object. Examples of pieces could include blocks, building bricks, or other assorted small objects.
NGSS3-5-ETS1-1
Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
NGSS2-PS1-2
Analyze data obtained from testing different materials to determine which materials have the properties that are best suited for an intended purpose. Examples of properties could include, strength, flexibility, hardness, texture, and absorbency. Assessment of quantitative measurements is limited to length.
NGSS2-PS1-1
Plan and conduct an investigation to describe and classify different kinds of materials by their observable properties. Observations could include color, texture, hardness, and flexibility. Patterns could include the similar properties that different materials share.
NGSS4-PS3-1
Use evidence to construct an explanation relating the speed of an object to the energy of that object. Assessment does not include quantitative measures of changes in the speed of an object or on any precise or quantitative definition of energy.
NGSS4-PS3-3
Ask questions and predict outcomes about the changes in energy that occur when objects collide. Emphasis is on the change in the energy due to the change in speed, not on the forces, as objects interact. Assessment does not include quantitative measurements of energy.
NGSS3-PS2-2
Make observations and/or measurements of an object’s motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion. Examples of motion with a predictable pattern could include a child swinging in a swing, a ball rolling back and forth in a bowl, and two children on a see-saw. Assessment does not include technical terms such as period and frequency.
NGSS3-5-ETS1-3
Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.
NGSS4-PS3-4
Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another. Examples of devices could include electric circuits that convert electrical energy into motion energy of a vehicle, light, or sound; and, a passive solar heater that converts light into heat. Examples of constraints could include the materials, cost, or time to design the device. Devices should be limited to those that convert motion energy to electric energy or use stored energy to cause motion or produce light or sound.
NGSS3-PS2-1
Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object. Examples could include an unbalanced force on one side of a ball can make it start moving; and, balanced forces pushing on a box from both sides will not produce any motion at all. Assessment is limited to one variable at a time: number, size, or direction of forces. Assessment does not include quantitative force size, only qualitative and relative. Assessment is limited to gravity being addressed as a force that pulls objects down.
NGSSK-2-ETS1-1
Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
NGSSK-2-ETS1-3
Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.
NGSSK-2-ETS1-2
Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.