More Activity Ideas
- Together, explore ramps around your house. Prop up sofa cushion, books, and cardboard boxes and then watch objects roll, slide, or stay put. [Watch a group of children building ramps on the live-action video Peep and the Big Wide World “Homemade Hills.” Type in the Search window: Watch Together: Homemade Hills.]
- Explore body ramps together. Roll and slide small objects down each other’s arms, legs, backs, tummies, etc. Ask your child to explore how many body ramps he can find on his own body.
- Use cardboard tubes and tape to make cardboard tube trackways together. Place an X on the floor with tape. Then try to make bends and twists in the trackway so the ball lands on the X.
- Encourage your child to talk about things she doesn’t understand about ramps. Then find out the answers together.
- Explore ramps outdoors such as slides and hills. Find out what ramp is harder to go up or down, what surface is easier to go up or down, etc.
- Roll different objects down a ramp (driveway, hill, slide). Then roll them down a different ramp. Notice how the texture of the object or the surface changes how the object moves. [Watch a group of children explore moving down a hill on the live-action video Peep and the Big Wide World “Rolling Down a Hill.” Type in the Search window: Watch Together: Rolling Down a Hill.]
- Play a game of “Faster, Slower.” Set up a piece of cardboard so that it makes a gentle incline. Have your child roll a ball down the ramp. Challenge her to change the ramp incline so the ball moves slower/faster.
- Go on an “objects that roll” hunt. Walk around the neighborhood or park looking for different objects to roll down a hill. Then roll them down a hill or slide. Ask, What is the same about the objects that roll? What is different about those that don’t roll?
- Together, make vehicles using recycled items like bottle caps, paper towel rolls, and milk cartons. Make one that rolls and one that slides. You and your child can look online or in books for pictures of different vehicles before you start.
- What object will roll fast, faster, or fastest? Find three objects and have your child guess. Then let her roll the objects and test her predictions.
- Place a block at the bottom of a ramp. Try to move the block with objects of different weights. Have your child guess which object will move the block and then send the objects down a ramp. [Watch the live-action video Peep and the Big Wide World “Building Ramps” and see a group of children explore moving objects at the bottom of their ramp. Type in the Search window: Watch Together: Building Ramps.]