New interactive children's book explains physics to toddlers.

6 hours ago7 min read2 comments

How do you explain the laws of physics to a toddler? This is the ambitious challenge that Chase Roberts, a computer engineer who pivoted from crafting phone apps to creating tangible educational objects in 2021, has tackled head-on with his latest project, *Simple Machines Made Simple*. The book, which recently demolished its Kickstarter goal by an astonishing 700%, is not a collection of static drawings but a hands-on exploration featuring working models that children as young as one can physically manipulate—spinning a wheel, sliding a knob up an inclined plane, pushing a wedge that splits a block.While a toddler won't emerge reciting Newton's laws, Roberts believes the interactive experience builds a foundational intuition for how the universe operates, a crucial step in nurturing a lifelong curiosity. His journey into educational publishing began with *Computer Engineering for Babies* in 2021, using buttons and LEDs to demystify basic logic gates, followed by a 2023 sequel for older children.The inspiration for this mechanical pivot struck during a quintessential parenting moment: watching his child catapult cereal with a spoon, a real-world demonstration of leverage that sparked the idea to translate abstract principles into tactile reality. In an era where children can simply ask an AI for an explanation, Roberts defends the value of this foundational learning with a compelling analogy: we still teach multiplication despite the existence of calculators, because the cognitive framework it builds is irreplaceable.The book cleverly bridges the gap between the page and the playground by contextualizing each simple machine within a child's daily life—wheels are found on scooters and pizza cutters, escalators are inclined planes, and shovels and axes are wedges. By giving these concepts a name and a physical form, Roberts aims to highlight the sheer magic of human ingenuity, the profound 'aha' moment of realizing that a massive boulder can be moved with a long enough lever.This approach has resonated powerfully, particularly within the engineering community, where his first book went viral on Reddit's Arduino forum, finding an audience that appreciates the elegant repackaging of complex systems into something shareable and fun. The project taps into a broader, almost cosmic, truth about education: the most effective learning often occurs not through passive consumption of information, but through the active, joyful process of play, a principle that applies as much to understanding a pulley system as it does to contemplating the forces that govern our solar system. Roberts’s work stands as a testament to the idea that the seeds of scientific literacy are sown not in lecture halls, but in the hands-on, wonder-filled interactions of early childhood, building a bridge from the high chair to the stars.

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#educational book

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#Chase Roberts