Whether we’re opening the refrigerator door or closing the screen of our laptop, hinges are all around us helping our world move! By investigating real objects like the small metal devices in a doorframe that help it to swing open, or the plastic lids on top of the maple syrup bottle that keep the syrup from spilling out, this week our scientists are observing that a hinge is simply something that connects two objects to help them rotate.

Kids are building real-world connections that even parts of our bodies, like our knees and our elbows, are also hinges, helping us to do things like run fast or swing a tennis racket!

Through creating hinges from different materials, like bendy straws and popsicle sticks, kids are discovering how the design of a hinge can affect its range of motion.