Try out this winch building STEM activity to teach your child about engineering principles and the basics of simple machines! It’s so much fun to build and can be used over and over again!
What is a Winch?
A winch is a device that can be used to lift and lower objects. It usually consists of a rope or chain around a spool that can be cranked to lift or lower an item. Tow trucks use winches to lift and carry the vehicles that they tow!
Materials
- 2 cardboard tubes
- Cardboard
- Spool (optional)
- Straw or pencil
- String
- Tape
- Scissors
- Water bottle cap (or a similar option to create a basket)
- Pen
How to Create Your Simple Machine
Step 1
Use scissors to cut out a rectangle from the cardboard that is as long as your straw or pencil and a few centimetres wider than the width one of the cardboard tubes.
This rectangular piece will be your base.
What do you think is the importance of the base? Would your simple machine be better or worse without a base?
Including a base for your machine will help to make your machine stronger. Think about how construction workers build a house, they create a base as a foundation for their building to make sure that it can stand strong and support itself!
Step 2
Position the cardboard tubes upright on opposite ends of the cardboard base and secure them down with tape.
Step 3
Cut 2 notches on the top of the cardboard tube, opposite of each other. Repeat on the other tube. All of the notches need to line up as this is where the straw or pencil will sit. Leave a little extra room for the straw or pencil to spin.
Step 4
Before adding the straw or pencil to the machine, slide the spool onto the straw or pencil. Position it in the middle and secure it in place using tape. If you don’t have a spool you can just attach the string right to the straw.
STEM Q for You: Consider this! What do you think can pull more weight? The straw or pencil? Why?
Step 5
If the string is not already attached to the spool, you will need to add it in this step. If it’s already attached, skip to step 6. Tape one end of the string to the spool, then spin the straw or pencil to wrap up the rest. You want the string to be as long as about double the length of of one of your cardboard tubes.
Step 6
Poke 2 holes in the water bottle cap using a pen. Pull the string through each of the holes. This bottle cap will serve as your basket. Secure the basket by tying it to a spot on the string about a cm above the bottle cap. Adjust so it is balanced.
STEM Q for You: What else could you use for a basket? What is the maximum width of basket that you could add to your winch?
The distance between the two cardboard tubes!
Step 7
Time to try out your winch! Add objects to your basket that are each weighted differently. Observe what changes when you crank the winch (i.e. spin the straw or pencil) with each object in the basket.
Experiment with lifting heavier objects with your winch. What is the maximum weight it will pull?
Try This! How could you modify your simple machine so that it can pull more weight? Make the necessary adjustments to see how much weight you can lift with your simple machine!
What is a Simple Machine?
What you just created is called a simple machine! A simple machine is a mechanical device that is used to change the direction and/or size of force required to do work. The purpose of simple machines is to help us move things using less energy. There are six different types of simple machines!
What are the six types of simple machines?
- Wheel and axle,
- pulley,
- lever,
- screw,
- wedge and
- inclined plane.
Why is a winch both a pulley and a wheel and axle?
A pulley is a device that uses a rope that wraps around a wheel that can be used to change the direction of an applied force. A wheel and axle is a device that includes a wheel that spins around a shaft. In your simple machine, the string or rope around the spool acts as a pulley system, and the pencil or straw with the spool attached acts as a wheel and axle!
Simple machines can be used to make our lives easier, consider how this can be both a good and a bad thing. What do you think, does the good outweigh the bad?
Simple machines allow us to achieve a lot of great things we would not be able to using only our own force. However, they also contribute to a sedentary lifestyle which is not the best for your overall health and wellbeing.
