Simple Machines

Simple Machines Learning Site
This is a great introductory site especially for kids in primary grades. It defines each of the simple machines and provides examples, brief experiments, and thought-provoking questions with graphic images and pictures drawn by kids.

Inventors Toolbox
This site identifies elements of machines with simple photos and brief explanations. It starts with simple machines -- wheel and axle, pulley, edge, screw, lever -- and also looks at the more complex bevel gear, worm gear, rack and pinion, cam, crank and rod, chain and belt, and ratchet. The Gadget Anatomy quiz gives students a chance to identify the simple machine elements found in a complex machine.

Marvelous Machines
Here’s a series of activities and worksheets on simple machines. Teacher Notes support the lessons designed for third grade. Activities cover levers, inclined planes, pulleys, gears, wheels, friction, and springs. At Home Worksheets encourage students to identify everyday examples of simple machines.

Toting the Log and Lifting the Bale: A Workshop on Simple Machines
For some reason, this curriculum unit from the Science Teachers Association of Texas doesn’t appear on any of these other simple machine sites. The neat thing about several of the hands-on activities in this unit is that they have students go beyond the simple machines to build nifty gadgets, everyday items, and complex machines that -- surprise! -- include simple machines. Activities explore levers with a drawing of a “copy machine” and water clock, and show wheels and axles in action in a sprinkler and helicopter.