What’s on the Simple Machines poster
A 6-row table: Machine · What it does · Where you see it.
A simple machine does not reduce the work. It changes the direction or the size of the force you need.
- Lever — turns on a pivot — seesaw, scissors, spoon
- Wheel and axle — rolls instead of drags — car, door handle
- Pulley — changes the direction of a pull — flagpole, blinds
- Inclined plane — a gentler slope up — ramp, hill road
- Wedge — splits things apart — knife, axe, teeth
- Screw — a ramp wrapped round — bolt, jar lid, drill
Scissors are two levers with two wedges attached. Most tools are combinations.
Questions about the Simple Machines poster
- What’s on the Simple Machines poster?
- A 6-row table: Machine · What it does · Where you see it. A simple machine does not reduce the work. It changes the direction or the size of the force you need. Lever — turns on a pivot — seesaw, scissors, spoon; Wheel and axle — rolls instead of drags — car, door handle; Pulley — changes the direction of a pull — flagpole, blinds; Inclined plane — a gentler slope up — ramp, hill road; Wedge — splits things apart — knife, axe, teeth; Screw — a ramp wrapped round — bolt, jar lid, drill. Scissors are two levers with two wedges attached. Most tools are combinations.
- Who is the Simple Machines poster for?
- Simple Machines is filed under 3rd Grade (ages 8–9), so it matches what that year asks a child to remember. It is equally useful to an older student revisiting science, and to the parent or teacher answering the question at the kitchen table.
- When should you use the Simple Machines poster?
- Find all six in the kitchen. They are all there. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Simple Machines belongs on the wall where that science work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Simple Machines?
- Adaptations, Inside the Earth and Forces and Motion sit alongside Simple Machines in the 3rd Grade set. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.AdaptationsInside the EarthForces and Motion
- Is the Simple Machines poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Simple Machines downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the 3rd Grade set. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Simple Machines poster print at?
- Simple Machines is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Simple Machines loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Simple Machines on the same wall.
Browse every 3rd Grade poster, or start from the full catalogue.