STEAM Learning Lab – Physics and Toy Cars with Mark Miller Subaru

Ages 2 and up

One of the best ways to teach kids about science is through play. By doing these experiments with toy cars, we can teach kids about physics and the scientific process. While doing the experiments, it can be valuable to use scientific language and refer to ourselves as “scientists.” Using language like this can help kids recognize that they can be successful when approaching STEM topics and can also demonstrate that scientific pursuits can be fun.

Ask children to predict what they think will happen or make a hypothesis. After they have done the experiment, have them notice if their predictions were correct, and discuss the outcomes.  When doing experiments with young kids, it is great to point out how changing one variable can change the entire outcome. To see fun toy car experiments, including today’s activity, you can print out this booklet from our partner Mark Miller Subaru or come to the Museum and pick one up at the front desk!

More Fun

• Newton’s first law of motion tells us that “An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.” Test this out by using toy cars and markers. Line up a row of markers and try having the cars run into them going fast, then medium speed then slow. What happens? Which car runs into the most markers?
• Let’s learn more about Isaac Newton! Grab an apple to snack on and check out this video. Eureka!