Levers

Find the fulcrum, load, and push on seesaws, crowbars, and bottle openers.

Warm-up, learn, try it together, practice, then a quick check. About 15 minutes.

What children learn in Level 57

Welcome to the Machine Workshop! A simple machine is a basic tool that changes the size or direction of a force. There are six kinds.
First up is the lever: a stiff bar that turns on a point called the fulcrum. The thing being moved is the load, and the force you add is the push.
A seesaw is a lever. Its fulcrum is the post in the middle.
The fulcrum doesn't have to be in the middle. A crowbar's fulcrum sits near the load, so a small push lifts something heavy.
A bottle opener has its fulcrum at one end, with the load in the middle. You pull up on the other end.

Georgia Standards of Excellence in Science:

S4P3.c — Ask questions to identify and explain the uses of simple machines (lever, pulley, wedge, inclined plane, wheel and axle, and screw) and how forces are changed when simple machines are used to complete tasks. (Clarification statement: The use of mathematical formulas is not expected.)