Chain Reaction, Domino Effect, Cause and Effect

Posted by Barb Horsey on June 3, 2024

Topic: Chain Reaction, Domino Effect, Cause and Effect

Books: Just Like Rube Goldberg by Sarah Aronson and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff

Opening: Free dominos play until start time

Discussion: Talk about chain reaction, domino, effect, and cause and effect.

Cause is an event which makes a second (the effect) happen

Cause and effect the relationship between events and things- one occurs because of the other

Why did it happen? What happened?

If I do this what will happen?

What caused something to happen?

Examples:

If a football team makes a touchdown what do their fans do- Cheer

You are hungry- you eat

You missed a step on the stairs- you trip or fall

You get sick- go to doctor, get medicine

Door locked put key in door- turn key- door unlocked

Cause and effects in stories

Hopefully everyone knows this story- If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

this way we can concentrate on identifying the cause and effect elements

Book: Just Like Rube Goldberg

Not reading book- let’s go over to tables where we will walk through main parts of book (these will be activities for kids to do at end of “story walk”

Rube Goldberg born on July 4 th 1883- what do we celebrate on July 4 th - Fireworks color in sheet

Young boy loved to draw

4 years old would trace cartoons he found in books show kids books of how to draw cartoons, show sample of my tracing from book, careful to not hurt book

Show examples of cartoons from newspaper, color and black and white talk about graphic novels

Older- Family did not want him to be an artist because not make much money so he went to school to become an engineer- he mapped sewer pipes 2 thousand feet underground- show picture from book- wasn’t happy so he quit

1906 San Franciso Earthquake- show book “I Survived the San Francisco Earthquake, 1906” – Lauren Tarshis Show Survive the Quake Engineering Kit-Lakeshore started drawing comics to cheer people up after this natural tragedy.

Moved to New York City- cartoon capital of the world at that time show United States Map-San Francisco to NYC

Started to invent on paper- crazy contraptions to do things in a silly way- show pictures in book machines were not practical they challenged people to use their brain

show quote from Rube Goldberg-“You have to have courage to be a creator”

Now let them loose to create with drawing, coloring, earthquake build or making chain reactions

Chain Reaction Kits:
  • Domino Maze- Thinkfun
  • Stem Explorers: Domino Action - Learning Resources
  • Create-A-Chain Reaction Pre-K - Grade 2 - Lakeshore

Additional Items for build:

Legos, Hot Wheel Tracks, Train Track, Cardboard, hot wheel cars, marbles, marble run, small balls, dominoes, blocks