Gravity Experiment: Gravity Spinner Toy

This post may contain affiliate links.

Learning about gravity?  Need a fun gravity activity to help you teach the concept to kids?  It is such a fun thing to experiment with and learn about. This gravity spinner toy is the coolest. Kids just love it! See all of my STEM projects.

This is an easy project that requires only a few supplies. It could easily be done in classrooms or at home with little teacher supervision. As busy teachers and parents, we all love an easier project, right?!

How to Make the Gravity Spinner Toy

Supplies Needed:

3-4 ft of Thin Wire
1 Large Paper Clip
2 Coins
Rocket Template (in my subscriber library)
1 Straw
Tape

Wrap the wire around a round pole. We used our broomstick.

Twist a handle for holding on either end of the wire.

Color your rockets and cut them out. Tape a penny on the back center of the rockets.

Attach a paper clip  to the center of the straw. You will want to add a small piece of tape to keep it in place.

Tape a rocket on either end of the straw.

Put the paperclip through the wire and let the rockets fall from the top of the wire down to the bottom. Flip it and let it spin back the other way!

With the weight of the pennies on the rockets, gravity pulls the rockets down.

Want to Print the Gravity Spinner Rocket Template?

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Use this activity to talk about the force of gravity. Gravity is an invisible force that pulls things towards each other. Smaller things are pulled towards larger things. The Earth being the thing of largest mass, we are all pulled towards it.  This force is what keeps us on the earth and what makes things fall.

And, just for fun. . .  Newton’s universal law of gravitation is : F = Gm₁m₂/r², where F is the force due to gravity, between two masses (m₁ and m₂), which are a distance r apart; G is the gravitational constant.

See also my Balancing Toy. Also check out my Straw Rockets!

Love Science like me?  You have to check out my new Science Art book!