Explore and Play: Up or Down?

Materials

• cardboard ramp (preferably a wide one)
• ball

Key Science Concepts

• A ramp is a surface with one end higher than the other.

Directions

Ask children if they remember Peep, Chirp, and Quack walking up the slide in the video you watched yesterday. Ask if they’ve ever tried this themselves, and to describe what it was like.

1. Tell children that you’re going to do an experiment to see if it’s easier to go up or down a ramp. Show them the ramp and the ball. Ask them to think of a way to test whether it’s easier to make the ball go up or down a ramp.
2. Once they’ve decided on a test, ask them to make predictions.
3. Have volunteers do the experiment. Discuss the results and why they think it was easier to make the ball go up or down the ramp.