Kids Invent Stuff Presents – The Rube Goldberg Challenge
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Like the children’s game mousetrap a Rube Goldberg machine (or a Chain Reaction Machine) is essentially a series of crazy contraptions that interact with each other in convoluted ways to reach a specific outcome.
Rube Goldberg in action
Just who was Rube Goldberg from where the challenge gets its name? Well, he was an American cartoonist, sculptor, engineer and an inventor and the only person as yet to have been listed in a dictionary as an actual adjective! Cartooning made Rube famous during the early part of the 20th century, and it was his bizarre and madcap cartooning adventures, featuring crazy machines like the one below, that made sure he and in particular his name and crazy inventions found a place in history.
One of Rube Goldberg’s crazy cartoon inventions
Calling all Young Engineers!
Fast forward to today and Ruth Amos (winner of Young Engineer of the Year Award 2006) along with the Kids Invent Stuff co. Host Shawn Brown, (an inventor and engineer) have put a call out to all 5-11-year-olds to get their thinking caps on and invent some crazy contraptions that will form the single stages of a much bigger Rube Goldberg Machine!
Ruth Amos and her Kids Invent Stuff co. host Shawn Brown
What is the Rube Goldberg Challenge? Let’s ask Kids Invent Stuff…
You can help your child to submit their ideas as videos or as drawings via the Kids Invent Stuff website: https://www.kidsinventstuff.com. There’s also a Rube Goldberg activity worksheet to help you help your kids with their entry that you can download too!
Stuck for ideas? This fun music video might help your kids to get their engineering thinking caps on and get those crazy Rube Goldberg inventions rolling in!
RS Components is proud to be a sponsor of this fantastic initiative that encourages the children of today to spend some of that surplus energy they all possess on unleashing their inner engineer and at the same time help encourage them to become the engineers of tomorrow!
The most creative designs will form a vital part of the finished Rube Goldberg Machine that will be showcased on the Kids Invent Stuff YouTube Channel as well as featuring on the RS Components and DesignSpark websites.
Check out some of great kids inventions that were brought to life by Ruth Amos and Co. on the Kids Invent Stuff YouTube page.