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Busy Things hosts over 1600 curriculum-linked activities and games for early years and primary aged children. A school subscription also includes lots of features and tools for teachers that promise to save planning time. Take a free trial to have a proper play or book a demo here.
Mudball shootout
Aim the cannon to try and hit the pink men! See what happens when you hit the nets, targets and passing birds!
This game has a different control system for tablets and touchscreens. For tablets it's automatic, but if you are using a touchscreen or whiteboard, you will need to turn on the 'Whiteboard/Touch mode' setting in the Device settings in the teacher bar.
Discussion points
- What happens if you pull the mudball lever all the way back?
- What happens if you change the yellow height arrow?
- How would you make it go as far as possible?
- How does the amount of force affect the mudball?
- How does changing the height affect the mudball?
- What do you need to do to hit a target that is far away?
- How does the amount of force affect the mudball?
- How does changing the height affect the mudball?
- What do you need to consider when setting up the mudball?
Teaching tips:
Use this activity as a fun introduction to forces. Discuss ways that different things can be moved. For example, balls can be bounced or rolled; clay can be squashed or stretched; wheelbarrows can be pushed or pulled.
For younger children, keep the flight path trajectory on the screen so they can see the effect of moving the height and strength of force.
For younger children, keep the flight path trajectory on the screen so they can see the effect of moving the height and strength of force.
Use this activity as a fun introduction to forces, ready to support learning on forces in older year groups.
Discuss ways that different things can be moved. For example, balls can be bounced or rolled; clay can be squashed or stretched; wheelbarrows can be pushed or pulled. Children might have a selection of objects or images of objects and discuss how they can be moved.
Introduce the word ‘forces’ as a push or pull which can change an object’s speed, direction or shape.
The flight path is automatically turned off by default in this age group, so children need to think carefully about the force applied to the mudball.
Discuss ways that different things can be moved. For example, balls can be bounced or rolled; clay can be squashed or stretched; wheelbarrows can be pushed or pulled. Children might have a selection of objects or images of objects and discuss how they can be moved.
Introduce the word ‘forces’ as a push or pull which can change an object’s speed, direction or shape.
The flight path is automatically turned off by default in this age group, so children need to think carefully about the force applied to the mudball.
This is a fun activity to support learning about forces. Discuss how an object’s acceleration depends on the amount of force applied to that object as well as the mass of the object.
Children could make their own catapults out of lollipop sticks and elastic bands to experiment with moving objects of varying mass using different amounts of force.
The flight path is automatically turned off by default in this age group so children need to think carefully about the force applied to the mudball.
Children could make their own catapults out of lollipop sticks and elastic bands to experiment with moving objects of varying mass using different amounts of force.
The flight path is automatically turned off by default in this age group so children need to think carefully about the force applied to the mudball.
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- Play on desktop computers, laptops and tablets
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Schools have no limit on the number of pupils that can use Busy Things simultaneously.
