I created this Rube Goldberg Machine (RGM) as an example for students who are beginning to create their own RGMs. The grade 3 students are studying energy, transfer of energy, and simple machines, so creating an RGM seemed like a hands on way for students to understand what they are studying.
After having learned most of the content the students came into the makerspace and I explained who Rube Goldberg was and what he was so famous for. I also prepared baskets for each group with blocks, dominos, a ramp, marbles, and several other items, and explained how to create a RGM. My hope was that this activity would get their creative juices flowing so they would be ready to create their own RGM. The next time they visited the makerspace we watched some short RGM videos and then the students began planning what the final action of their RGM would be. From there they worked backwards, and once they had a plan in place they began building their machines.