Despite all of the modern games and toys available to children
these days, they still find spinning objects inherently
interesting. Boys and girls of all ages will spend hours, if
given the chance, making and playing with tops and yo-yos.
Watching a simple toy whirling on the floor or table can be
delightful and engaging, and making a yo-yo do exactly what you
want it to do can be very satisfying. The Spinning Toys project
builds on this interest, giving children an opportunity to learn
how to manipulate the materials that compose tops and yo-yos and
to figure out and explain the physical principles that govern
spinning things. As children work through the challenges in this
Spinning Toys project, they will also learn about experimenting,
testing, making observations, asking questions, and explaining
what they did and why they did it-- the essential elements of
critical thinking and the inquiry approach to engineering and
science. In this project, children will be designing their own
tops and yo-yos. The firs