RAINBOWS
Best guess
What you’ll need
- A large, clear space
- Selection of rollable items - five per small group (see note to leader)
Aim of the activity
How did you guess that? Work together to become Rainbow scientists and run your own guessing experiments.
Note to leader:
You’ll need a selection of different items that can roll. This could include balls, cardboard tubes, toy cars, or even hula hoops. Make sure there are some that won’t roll easily or roll in a straight line.
Step by step
1
Put your guessing hats on, your leader is going to read out some questions. What do you think the right answer is? If you want to answer, put your hand on your nose!
Questions
- Which is faster a bird or an airplane? Plane.
- What would happen if you poured a sugary drink onto a plant every day instead of water? It might make the plant unhappy and start to die.
- What would happen if we all spun around without stopping for ten minutes? You’d feel very dizzy and maybe a little sick!
Were they easy to guess? You might have not seen a bird race a plane, but you know which one goes faster, so you could guess what was going to happen. It’s time to run your own guessing experiment!
2
Split into small groups and find a big space each. Your leader will give you five items, don’t touch them.
3
Which one will roll the furthest? In your group, put your items in order of how far you think they will roll – but don’t roll them yet! Put the one you think will roll the furthest at the top of your line. Make sure everyone agrees.
4
It’s time to test your guesses. Take turns to roll the items along your floor. Did you guess the order right? Fetch all the items and try again – is the order the same this time?
5
If the order changed, why do you think that could be? Maybe someone different rolled an item or rolled it harder than before. What could you do to make your test the same each time?
6
It’s time to switch it up! Swap items with another group and start from step 3 again. Remember to use all your tips and test twice to make sure! Was it easy to guess what would happen?
Guessing can be really helpful when you are trying to work out how to solve a problem. Next time you make a guess, think about how you could test it to see if it’s right.
Top tip
Check that:
- Everyone rolls the items the same way, not too fast and not too slow.
- Your floor is the same. If you roll some items along a hard floor and some along carpet, will it make a difference?
- Stand with your backs to the wall so everyone is rolling from the same starting place.