What Simple Machines Do: Farmer Daisy's Tool Shed
Welcome to Farmer Daisy’s Tool Shed at the Bunny Farm! Shovels lean by the door, wheelbarrows wait on the path, and a wooden ramp leads up into the shed.
Remember: A simple machine is a tool with few or no moving parts that makes work easier. There are 6 kinds: the lever, the wheel and axle, the pulley, the inclined plane (a ramp), the wedge and the screw. They help you push or pull with less force, or change the direction of your force. They never make a load lighter, and they need no motor.
Magic trick: Less push, longer way. When a machine makes a push easier, you push it a longer way.
Seek and Find
Look carefully at the picture of Farmer Daisy’s Tool Shed and find:
- Find the 3 shovels. Each one is a lever: push down on the handle and the soil comes up.
- 🛞 Find the 2 wheelbarrows. Each wheel turns on an axle: a wheel and axle!
- 🛝 Find the ramp up to the shed door. A ramp is an inclined plane. Rolling things up it is easier than lifting them.
- 🐱 Millie and her kitten Biscuit are hiding in every picture. Can you spot them?