Understanding Simple Machines

Planning a unit on simple machines? Save some time and energy with this collection of lessons and activities that explores how these devices are used in the real world to make life a little easier. 

Planning an elementary science unit has never been simpler! These twelve lessons guide young scientists through an exploration of simple machines and their many uses in the real world before asking them to apply their learning in the...

In this simple machines worksheet, students analyze 10 words in a word bank that pertain to simple machines. Students find these words in a word search puzzle.

Make your work as a teacher a little easier with a physical science project on simple machines. After introducing young scientists to these devices and identifying their different uses around the school, this project engages children in...

Simplify students' lives with this physical science note-taking guide. From inclined planes to moveable pulleys, this resource supports young scientists with defining each type of simple machine while identifying their mechanical...

It is plane to see that simple machines help reduce the force needed to perform a task.  This resource introduces three of the simple machines--the inclined plane, the wedge, and the screw, and  the formulas in order to be able to...

Compound machines, nothing more than a combination of simple machines working together, are the focus of an activity that asks class members to use the provided information to take a look at the way innovators combine simple machines to...

A Rube Goldberg machine does not really look like it would make work easier. Introduce your class to Rube Goldberg with a resource that shows how his inventions make simple tasks harder to complete. 

If you're going to build a machine, you might as well make it interesting and amusing. A set of eight lessons and activities introduces simple machines using Rube Goldberg machines. A culminating project challenges techies to create and...

Here is a tri-faceted resource that has a slide show, a quiz, and a vocabulary list that you can use to teach simple machines. Six machines are introduced: wheels and axles, planes, levers, pulleys, wedges, and screws. Slides contain...