Our Engineering box allows students to experiment with simple systems to learn about mechanical advantage in levers, pulleys, and gears. Explore how mechanisms make our lives easier and then get creative by engineering your Heath Robinson-inspired contraptions.
Recommended age: 7 years – 12 years.
Our Engineering box contains a range of teaching aids including: a classroom set of K’NEX® (Building Simple Machines edition), a pulley demonstration piece and force meter, a lever balance kit and metal washers, a wind-up mechanical clock and wooden gear kit, and a set of colourful dominoes and marbles. It includes three non-fiction books and a children’s edition of the H.G. Wells classic The Time Machine. This box is great for students in KS2 / Second Level upwards.
You know your students best, but please be aware of that some items and books may be more suitable for a particular age group than others. Below are a selection of useful links and downloadable resources to help you make the most of the box. Please note we cannot control the content from external websites.
Watch our engineers using pulleys to move and lift the chains during the Union Chain Bridge restoration
Inspire your class with this Heath Robinson machine in the OK Go music video
Make cardboard automata using levers and cams with the Exploratorium
Play a handy video explaining how bike gears work to children
