Simple Machines Made Simple

Levers, pulleys and inclined planes are the starting point of physics and engineering, yet hands-on materials for young children barely exist. Engineer-author Chase Roberts (of Computer Engineering for Babies) answers with Simple Machines Made Simple — a board book with working physical demos. The book covers the six classic simple machines — wheel, lever, pulley, inclined plane, wedge and screw — each paired with an interactive mechanism kids can operate: feel the difference between lifting a weight straight up and hauling it up a ramp, or discover that a screw is just an inclined plane wrapped around a cylinder. The idea struck when Roberts watched his kids catapulting cereal off spoons — that's a class-2 lever! Better a book than an axe-through-drywall wedge experiment. The campaign raised $358,474 against a $48,000 goal (about 7.5x) with 6,885 backers, extending the series' signature mix of hardcore knowledge and playful format.