There Goes the Rube Goldberg Machine

Time to grind your gears by making your very own Rube Goldberg machine!

Ask your students if they know what a machine is and if they can name some machines that they encounter in their daily lives, like a bicycle, dishwasher or elevator. Afterwards, explain that a Rube Goldberg machine is a machine that does a simple task using a ridiculous series of chain reactions. You can help illustrate the idea of a chain reaction by standing in a circle with your students and sending different movements down the line, like doing the wave at a baseball game! Next, watch some videos of Rube Goldberg machines to get your class inspired for how they work (the music video for “This Too Shall Pass” by OK Go is a great place to start).

Now it’s time to build your own Rube Goldberg machine! First, decide on a simple task, like switching off a light or pouring a glass of water, that you would like your machine to perform. Then, conduct a scavenger hunt in your classroom to find fun and zany objects, like toys, blocks or string. Work together to see if you can set up these found objects into a five-step Rube Goldberg machine, meaning there are five different reactions that occur to perform your chosen task.

When you’re done, share your machine with another class to demonstrate all the magic that lives in everyday classroom objects!