WonderWorks on the Road: Ramps

A very portable, take-along project, perfect for preschoolers!

Today's Topic: Ramps
Supplies:
cove molding (See details here)
balls
blocks (from the classroom's own collection)

Book: 

Two little chicks / Gorbachev, Valeri
(older version of this book are titled "Chicken Chickens")
What the kids actually did: 
line up all the green balls (plus one wooden one)

 try a (mostly) flat "ramp"

 Tilt the ramp with your hands (watch out!)

 Add a ramp to a (classroom provided) curve

 Make a loooong track with different kinds of tunnels to go through

 test out different sized balls to see which will fit under this arch.

 Make a longer tunnel with two blocks

 check out the ramp action of this curve

 Bounce a ball around inside a curve on the tabletop surface

Hindsight Tip:  For being such simple and portable supplies, this project kept the kids surprisingly engaged for quite awhile.  Beware that the bouncy balls need close adult eyes as two were broken (bitten in half, perhaps?) during this event -- ack, choking hazard!  Two of the kids were so deep in their play that I ended up leaving two balls there for them to keep playing even after I had to leave (they were using their own blocks as the ramps).  I loved watching them work things out!