Adventures in Bennionland

Ahhh…the joy of Sunday. Most Sundays you can find our family (at least the boys) snuggled in bed late, then off to church (maybe) and then off exploring.

This Sunday we just took it easy. I am so glad since we start school back up tomorrow*. In the afternoon we had some inspiration from these guys and found ourselves elbow deep in a Rube Goldberg experiment (yeah, I’d never heard of him either).

It was a blast. Sitting at the kitchen table drawing out our concept. Rummaging through the boys’ toys and our art supplies for tools to make our machine work. Then spending a good hour setting it up, testing it out, and trying to shoot a video of it. I think it ended up taking maybe 8 takes – Eric thinks it’s more like 15!

In the end the time didn’t matter. Here we were as a family doing something together – something new – and enjoying the creative work!

Now you can enjoy:

Our Popcorn Popping Rube Goldberg Machine!

Our Rube Goldberg set-up:
A ball started by Walker rolls down the ramp and lands in a cup. The cup is attached to pipe cleaners that pull down the light switch to turn off the light – and the cup swings and hits a truck. The truck hits the dinosaur which slowly bends over and hops. When it hops it hits another car which travels under the chair. The car hits a toy gun which has been holding another car – that car slides down the ramp hitting a chair (held up by another toy gun). The chair falls down and hits the books which are lined up in a domino fashion. The last book his an airplace which has it’s nose pressed into the start button – and then, the microwave starts popping the popcorn!

*And while most of you are still “ooohing” and “ahhing” over the video – I just have to say – nothing makes me want to homeschool my children more than preparing to send them back after a break. When we’re in the middle of school I’m ok, but oh it makes me sad to think of them not here everyday exploring and adventuring with me. Ok…that’s enough…