Gears that are found in clocks or bikes are made of plastic or metal. But we thought we’d help you make a simple gear train so you can experiment with gears in movement! Grab some household supplies, create your gears and watch them in motion! Go ahead and watch the fantastic gears paper cup gears activity below!
Parental Involvement: Medium
Duration: 20 minutes
Skills Acquired: Explore, Creativity, Cognitive
Materials
- Paper cups
- Board pins
- Toothpicks
- Cardboard
- Sketch pen
Instructions for Fantastic Gears Paper Cup Gears Activity
- Carefully, push the board pins through the paper cups.
- Draw some optical illusions on them.
- Secure the paper cup to the cardboard by pushing a toothpick through the middle of cup.
- Spin your cups in different directions and watch them in movement!
Your paper cup gears are all set!
You can draw on some optical illusions on the top of the paper cup and watch them move! Did you notice how when you move the first gear clockwise, the second one moves counter-clockwise? Now, what happens when you move the first one counter-clockwise? Experiment and find out! Try using different sizes of cups and different number of pins to see the differences.
Activity done by Vishwajeet