What Makes Cars Move?

Week of 3/10/14

Mrs. Stone & Mrs. Hughes’ Room

           

The children have been becoming more aware how cars move. Through explorations of materials that do not have wheels, the children seemed to prefer the cars due to the way they move. I am still curious if the children have made the connection between the movement of the cars and their wheels. A few children have turned the cars upside down and manipulated the wheels with their fingers, but I still wonder what their thinking is in regards to the wheels and the motion of the car.

I wanted to see if the children would make the connection between the wheels and the movement of the car if the motion of the car was made visible. So this week I placed black paint in a tray and taped it to the large ramp that was covered in paper. The children would dip the cars in the paint and then move them on ramp, leaving marks created by the wheels as the cars moved.

Laya was very excited and as soon as she saw the cars and paint she placed her car in the paint and then moved it back and forth very fast on the paper. This created a large space of black paint as she repeatedly moved the car over the same area on the paper. Will placed his car in the paint and then walked to the bottom of the ramp and placed his car on it. While still holding onto the car, Will began to move it up the ramp, leaving long marks of black paint. Nicholas used two cars, and placed each one in the paint with each hand. He then sat alongside the ramp and moved the two cars up and down repeatedly.

Based off of my observations I still am uncertain if the children have made the connection between the wheels and the movement of the car. I would like to explore other materials that have the same motion as the wheels on the car.