At Home Rube Goldberg Machine

Challenge
Are you stuck at home and looking for something fun, easy, and science to do? I’m a big fan of Rube Goldberg machines and think this might be something to tie fun, easy, and science all together!
What is a Rube Goldberg machine though? Let’s start with Rube Goldberg, himself. He was an American Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor, and his work is a classic example of the melding of art and science. Goldberg began his career as an engineer, and later became a cartoonist who drew elaborate illustrations of contraptions made up of pulleys, cups, birds, balloons, and watering cans that were designed to solve a simple task such as opening a window or setting an alarm clock. Interestingly, Goldberg only drew the pictures, and never built any of his inventions. However, these pictures have since served as inspiration for makers and builders who want the challenge of making wild inventions to solve everyday problems. 
So, that is your challenge for today. Can you build a Rube Goldberg machine to solve a simple problem? Maybe you want to turn on a fan, pour a glass of water, knock over an item, catch something, turn on a light, pop a balloon, ring a bell etc.! The possibilities are endless.
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For this challenge, there is no criteria or constraints. Use your creativity, ideas, thinking, and materials to create your own contraption!

Materials

• anything at home will work, but here are some useful/common items
• dominoes
• craft sticks
• toy cars
• wooden blocks
• car tracks
• any type of balls
• string
• tape
• cardboard tubes
• cups

Hints and Tips for Success

1. Watch some Rube Goldberg videos to get inspired and imagine the possibilities. OK Go is notorious for their amazingly-complicated designs.  https://youtu.be/qybUFnY7Y8w
2. Decide which problem you would like to solve. Sample problems are listed above but don't limit yourself!
3. Gather your supplies and lay them out so they're easily seen. Start with the basics and then search your home for more supplies as you start to tinker. This list might help you find helpful items https://tinkerlab.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Rube-Goldberg-Activity-List.pdf
4. Start building your machine! Experiment with the basic ideas of the chain reaction. Anything that tips something else over (and so on)!
5. Build one part at a time and keep adding on.
6. Do not be afraid of failure! As you test and try out different set-ups, you will probably fail a few times. But, this is great news! Failure is an excellent piece of the invention process. Without mistakes, you won't learn so celebrate it as part of the learning process!

By: Clay Nolan, CA BOCES Learning Resources