muck Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 Here's the deal. Need an "invention" that includes two simple machines (ramp, lever, pulley, wedge, wheel) that must be able to do something that my kid wants help with. So, what does my precious little girl say she needs help with? Eating oatmeal. ...and, yes she's serious. So far, I've thought about having a string that is tied to the back of the bowl get lifted up by a pulley which then pours the oatmeal down a ramp and into her mouth. The wife nixed that one. Frankly, I'm having a hard time here. Any suggestions? Unfortunately, she wouldn't do something that would help her split kindling for the fire (lever with a wedge on the end)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grits and Shins Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 I HATE school projects ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMD Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 If you want help on constructing a trebuchet to hurl the oatmeal at her face, then I am your guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yo mama Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 If you want help on constructing a trebuchet to hurl the oatmeal at her face, then I am your guy. 1272283[/snapback] Spit up a little coffee when I read that one, I laughed so hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Neutron Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 I'm helping my daugher with her 5th-grade science fair project now. We went with something easy and fun - totally requisite for my blonde daughter. She's testing her friends, family members and neighbors for visual acuity and depth perception with a bunch of vision tests and optical illusions. I'd be if I had to do a project with machines and my daugher - she doesn't conceptualize stuff like that yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muck Posted January 17, 2006 Author Share Posted January 17, 2006 If you want help on constructing a trebuchet to hurl the oatmeal at her face, then I am your guy. 1272283[/snapback] Thanks for the offer, Mr. Dorey ... but, I'm thinking that this idea wouldn't work that well. If the idea was to pick up small toys and deposit them in some sort of recepticle ____ feet away, then maybe so. ... trebuchet oatmeal at her face ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muck Posted January 17, 2006 Author Share Posted January 17, 2006 (edited) I'm helping my daugher with her 5th-grade science fair project now. We went with something easy and fun - totally requisite for my blonde daughter. She's testing her friends, family members and neighbors for visual acuity and depth perception with a bunch of vision tests and optical illusions. I'd be if I had to do a project with machines and my daugher - she doesn't conceptualize stuff like that yet. 1272308[/snapback] ...and my kid is in FIRST GRADE!!! Edited January 17, 2006 by muck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RFFL Chump Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 I hate these school projects it always turns into what can dad build that child can make work........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muck Posted January 18, 2006 Author Share Posted January 18, 2006 Gee...thanks for the great ideas. If my daughter tonight, it'll be your fault. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Czarina Posted January 18, 2006 Share Posted January 18, 2006 Well my 5th grader is doing a Lord of the Rings puppet show as part of his book report this month. He wanted to have 5 puppets but I talked him down off the ledge. The play can only be 3-5 minutes long. He's going with Gandalf and Frodo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puddy Posted January 18, 2006 Share Posted January 18, 2006 I can loan you a telescope that she can take pictures of St. Peter guarding the gates with. Other than that, I've got nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yo mama Posted January 18, 2006 Share Posted January 18, 2006 (edited) Come on now, a tool that helps one eat oatmeal? That's a pretty stiff order, Muck. Believe me, I've been thinking on this. Though about a lazy susan (wheel) with condiments attached. You'd rotate it, the press a lever to eject the condiment you wanted. But how many things can you really put on oatmeal? Milk, honey, brown sugar, butter. And two of those things ought to be refrigerated. Man, I got nothin'. What about a dry oatmeal dispenser? Highly impracticle, but I'm sure you could put something together that utilized two or more of the tools you're daughter is supposed to illustrate. Edited January 18, 2006 by yo mama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caveman_Nick Posted January 18, 2006 Share Posted January 18, 2006 If you want help on constructing a trebuchet to hurl the oatmeal at her face, then I am your guy. 1272283[/snapback] This was my first thought after reading Muck's post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muck Posted January 18, 2006 Author Share Posted January 18, 2006 Come on now, a tool that helps one eat oatmeal? That's a pretty stiff order, Muck. Believe me, I've been thinking on this. Though about a lazy susan (wheel) with condiments attached. You'd rotate it, the press a lever to eject the condiment you wanted. But how many things can you really put on oatmeal? Milk, honey, brown sugar, butter. And two of those things ought to be refrigerated. Man, I got nothin'. What about a dry oatmeal dispenser? Highly impracticle, but I'm sure you could put something together that utilized two or more of the tools you're daughter is supposed to illustrate. 1272528[/snapback] I've been thinking on this too...ugh. I think she's thinking that the oatmeal is already cooked and condimentized ... she simply want to get a spoon to scoop the stuff out of the bowl and get it in her mouth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Czarina Posted January 18, 2006 Share Posted January 18, 2006 I'm seeing something that looks like a water wheel, only it's little spoons... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billay Posted January 18, 2006 Share Posted January 18, 2006 How about some sort of goldberg contraption that cuts the apples, pours the cream in the oatmeal, getting it ready to eat? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted January 18, 2006 Share Posted January 18, 2006 So far, I've thought about having a string that is tied to the back of the bowl get lifted up by a pulley which then pours the oatmeal down a ramp and into her mouth. The wife nixed that one.1272252[/snapback] This seems like a perfectly reasonable idea to me--why did the Mrs. nix it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isleseeya Posted January 18, 2006 Share Posted January 18, 2006 If you want help on constructing a trebuchet to hurl the oatmeal at her face, then I am your guy. 1272283[/snapback] That was extremely funny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhippens Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 (edited) here's my best. make legs that would stand on a table on each side of the bowl of cooked oatmeal. attach a wheel in between them much like i bicycle tire is mounted. on the outside of the wheel attach spoons or something to carry the oatmeal. add a crank to turn the wheel making the spoons catch the oatmeal and bring them up to mouth level. so you could really just sit in the chair, lean over, crank the wheel, and have the wonderful quaker oats come to you. oh, and set up a wedge system to tilt the spoons toward the bowl as the oatmeal gets depleted. tough task muck, but that's my best. edit to add: picture a ferris wheel with spoons instead of seats Edited January 19, 2006 by rhippens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muck Posted January 20, 2006 Author Share Posted January 20, 2006 An idea we came up with was to get a wedge and a ramp. Take a container w/ dried (uncooked) oatmeal in it and put it next to the ramp. Push the wedge under the container so that the uncooked oatmeal spilled over the top and down the ramp into a bowl ... which could then have milk / brown sugar added (by hand) and then cooked. ...no matter how you look at it, this is a crappy project... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Czarina Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 An idea we came up with was to get a wedge and a ramp. Take a container w/ dried (uncooked) oatmeal in it and put it next to the ramp. Push the wedge under the container so that the uncooked oatmeal spilled over the top and down the ramp into a bowl ... which could then have milk / brown sugar added (by hand) and then cooked. ...no matter how you look at it, this is a crappy project... 1276805[/snapback] She's in 1st grade, it doesn't have to be rocket science dude. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbimm Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 Here's the deal. Need an "invention" that includes two simple machines (ramp, lever, pulley, wedge, wheel) that must be able to do something that my kid wants help with. So, what does my precious little girl say she needs help with? Eating oatmeal. ...and, yes she's serious. So far, I've thought about having a string that is tied to the back of the bowl get lifted up by a pulley which then pours the oatmeal down a ramp and into her mouth. The wife nixed that one. Frankly, I'm having a hard time here. Any suggestions? Unfortunately, she wouldn't do something that would help her split kindling for the fire (lever with a wedge on the end)... 1272252[/snapback] Can she add a conveyor belt? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Dick Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 OK. Here's what you do. Think beer bong, except instead of beer poured into the funnel you pour the cooked oatmeal. Now you put the oatmeal in one of those 2 cup, glass measuring cup things. You tie a rope onto the handle of said glass measuring cup. You build a platform about 2 feet high for the cup to rest on. You then build a tower that has a pulley at the top, and thread the rope from the handle of the measuring cup through the pulley. You put another pulley down low and run the rope through it. Your daughter puts the tube from the oatmeal bong in her mouth and use the rope tied to the measuring cup that is strung through the pulleys to "tip" the measuring cup into the oatmeal bong funnel. Oatmeal will then proceed down the funnel and tube into her mouth. Wa-La!! And I have this other idea about a water wheel. She could put the oatmeal in the catch basin and turn the water wheel by hand, which will then scoop up the oatmeal and deposit it into a gutter which leads to her mouth. In both cases make the oatmeal on the runny side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMD Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 She's in 1st grade, it doesn't have to be rocket science dude. 1276824[/snapback] Yeah, thanks mom. I'll just bring my macaroni art to set next to Timmy's marble sculpture of Lincoln. I'm sure everyone will think it is just as good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skilly Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 Muck, we can do this: my dad's a tv repairman. he's got this knarly set of tools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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