How Toys Work

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Much of children’s understanding of the energy sources that power their toys will stem from their incidental experiences. Think ahead about the teaching strategies you’ll use to foster children’s exploration of how their toys work.

Sources of Energy

Children as a Source of Energy: As children play with cars, trains, or trucks they push themselves, provide them with two or more wood or plywood planks.

• Put a wedge under one plank to create a slanted road. Buttress this roadway with another plank. As children roll their cars and trucks down the plank, ask,

• How far did the truck/car roll?
• Could you make it go farther? How?

• Then have the children roll one car along the floor and another car down the ramp, and ask,

• Which car rolls the farthest?
• Which car goes the fastest?

• Next tie a piece of rope or heavy string to a few vehicles, and ask,

• Can you make the car roll up the plank?

• Now have children pull them up the ramp.

• While you’re playing outside, take a few vehicles, planks, and rope with you. Have children try to roll their cars in sand, over the sidewalk, and through the grass. Ask them to compare and contrast their experiences.

• On what surface is it easier to pull or roll the cars?
• What causes the difference?

• Have children record their experiences in sketches and drawings.

Springs as a Source of Energy: You’ll want to find a few vehicles that use springs as the source of energy. After children wind up the spring, ask them to repeat some of their experiences with cars they moved themselves.

• Have children wind up the vehicles and race them while other children push. Ask children to measure which goes the farthest and the fastest.
• Try the spring-driven cars outside, on concrete, sand, gravel, and other surfaces. Compare the spring-driven cars with those pushed by hand over the same surfaces.
• Take apart one of the cars so children can see the spring. Have them watch the spring as they wind it and as it releases. Relate the spring to the motion of the car.
• Find other toys that use springs as an energy source. You might find a windup doll or animal.
• Read L. Lionni’s Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse, a magical story about a windup mouse.

Electricity as a Source of Energy: With an expert in electricity to help you, ask children to experiment with lighting a flashlight bulb. Connecting the wires to the bulb holder and to the two points on the battery will light the bulb. Have several sets so a number of children can experiment at the same time.

• Find toy cars, other vehicles, dolls, or other battery-powered toys. Take these apart to show children the batteries. Four- and 5-year-olds might be able to learn the 2 and 1 signs and to match these signs on the battery to those in the toy.
• Provide children with a few small flashlights. Show them how the batteries are inserted into the light to turn the bulb on.

Wind as a Source of Energy: Moving air is wind. Wind is caused by warm air rising over cool air. Children cannot see the wind, but they know when its a windy day. Wind makes things move. Young children have some difficulty understanding how the wind produces electrical power and other things, but they can experiment with catching the wind and observe the effects.