Kindergarten Pulley Craft
Pulleys teach kindergarten pupils about ways to make heavy objects lighter and ways to lift items to hard-to-reach places. Pulley crafts are fun as well as educational. Kindergarten pupils can manipulate ropes and pulley wheels as part of science experiments or to make crafts to take home. They can then look for pulleys everywhere they go, such as in stores, on flagpoles and in machinery.
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Flagpole
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Most schools have flagpoles; kindergarten pupils can look at the flagpole at their school and then build a model flagpole using string, a wooden dowel and pulley wheels. They can also decorate their own flags to place on the string once they set up the pulley system. This craft helps them understand that they can lift items to high places without using a ladder.
Wishing Well
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Make model wishing wells using a bucket, string, wooden dowels, a cup and a pulley. The bucket can serve as the well while the dowel creates the frame from which the pulley hangs. Attach the cup to the string and use the pulley to lift the cup in and out of the well. Children can fill the well with water and experiment with their pulley craft, which allows them to raise and lower an item with ease.
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Pulley Cars
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Though kindergarten pupils will need a lot of adult help and supervision while building a toy pulley car, they can learn about how pulleys create energy that makes the car go. Build pulley cars using pulley wheels mounted to the top or side of an existing toy car. Run string through the pulley wheel and wind it around the axle. As the children pull the string through the wheel, it will begin turning the axle. Set the car down and watch it go.
Cranes
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Pulleys help lift heavy items; cranes, for example, use pulley systems to lift cars, construction material and other heavy items. Children can create basic cranes by attaching pulley wheels to the side of a fixed object, such as a heavy table or a protruding windowsill. They then can experiment with lifting heavier and heavier items with the pulley system, such as schoolbooks, shoes or weights.
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Resources
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