*During all activities, we advise wearing safety gloves, goggles, clothing, and following general safety protocol. Complete all activities at your own risk as injury may occur.*
REGULAR GUIDEBOOK LINKS (Early Learner Guidebook)
Early Learner Lesson 1 Activity
Early Learner Lesson 4 Activity
Early Learner Lesson 6 Activity
REGULAR GUIDEBOOK LINKS (Growing/Advanced Guidebook)
Before Lesson 1
SONG
*This song includes a couple of more mature themes, so you may want to screen for children
Lesson 1
30-second internal combustion video
**BONUS** INCREDIBLE see-through combustion engine
*Watch from minute marker 5:30 – 6:30
Lesson 2
*BONUS* Power Steering (QUICK FLUSH METHOD)
Lesson 3
Camshaft rotation in an engine
Watch minute marker 0:50 – 1:15
ACTIVITY 1 – Automata how-to ballerina (needs only cardboard)
ACTIVITY 1 – Automata general tutorial for beginners
ACTIVITY 1 – Automata how-to (needs only cardboard – windmill)
ACTIVITY 2 – Checking your serpentine belt
ACTIVITY 2 – Checking your timing belt (more advanced, wouldn’t recommend just yet)
Lesson 4
Lesson 5
How to change spark plugs (video 1)
How not to change spark plugs (video 2)
Lesson 6
How to use a jack that comes with your car
Tips for finding a jack in your car
Lesson 7
Checking brake pads when it’s harder
Lesson 8
Snorkel (for entertainment; we do NOT recommend trying this at home)
*Parental discretion: shows vehicle going underwater and infers that such a situation would be safe. Parental discretion if little children are watching*
Lesson 9
Lesson 10
AWD vs 4WD in one make of vehicle
Amazing old video about drive train
Lesson 11
*Video does not show this, but we recommend protecting your windshield with a towel, so the blades do not spring down on accident and crack it (especially with beginners)*
Activity – changing light bulb
Lesson 12
CORE CONNECTIONS LINKS
Lesson 1 – Coal Miner Hat option
Lesson 3 – DIY Steam Engine (long activity)
Lesson 10 – Original cars (scroll down a little for a 360 view)
BOOK LIST
This is here as a courtesy only. No books are required for the unit. Some of these books contain errors about the event or mature themes we do not endorse.
Customers may write in and suggest to add books to this list. These come recommended to us by others and have not been vetted by us. If you have any suggestions to add to this list, please email in so we can do so. Some of these books may contain more mature themes or theology or other educational teachings that we do not endorse, so we advise all parents to screen for content and personal beliefs. Books can also be sub-categorized into different age groups, so feel free to jump around!
Early Learner
- Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks and Things That Go by Richard Scarry
- Small Walt and Mo the Tow by Elizabeth Verdick
- All the Way to Havana by Margarita Engle
- Honk Honk Beep Beep by Daniel Turk
- Alphabeep: A Zipping, Zooming ABC by Debora Pearson
- Cars Galore by Peter Stein
- Berenstain Bears and the Big Road Race by Stan and Jan Berenstain
- Cars: Rushing! Honking! Zooming! By Patricia Hubbell
- When Daddy’s Truck Picks Me Up by Albert Whitman
- The Inventor’s Secret by Suzanne Slade
- Everything Goes on Land by Brian Briggs
Growing Learner
- Honda: The Boy Who Dreamed of Cars by Mark Weston
- Full of Beans Henry Ford Grows a Car by Peggy Thomas
- The Great Race by Gary Blackwood
- Henry Ford Big Wheel in the Auto Industry by Mike Venezia
- We’ll Race You, Henry by Barbara Mitchell
- The Little Red Racing Car: A Father Son Car Story by Dwight Knowlton
- Let’s Drive, Henry Ford by Peter and Connie Roop
- Alice Across America by Sarah Glenn Marsh
- If I Built a Car by Chris Van Dusen
Advanced Learner
- The Vanderbeekers on the Road by Karina Yan Glaser
- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by by Ian Fleming
- Around the World in 100 Days by Gary Blackwood
- The Tin Snail by Cameron McAllister
- Auto Biography: A Classic Car, an Outlaw Motorhead, and 57 Years of the American Dream by Earl Swift
- My Life and Work by Henry Ford
- Honda: The Man and His Machines by Sol W. Sanders
Optional Activity List (supplies listed below quick reference sheet)
Supplies List
This list includes anything that you wouldn’t usually find around your home. If you don’t see anything listed in a lesson, that is because you can find the needed items around your home.
All activities need safety supplies (glove, safety glasses, proper tools, etc) and standard tools (socket wrench, screw drivers, adjustable wrench, etc). Also, if you are going to be changing any fluids (such as washer fluid), you will need to choose such items with the lesson comes. Not everyone will need to top off or change their fluids, but everyone will be checking them.
Lesson 1 –
Balloons (EARLY LEARNER)
Legos or toy cars (EARLY LEARNER)
Lesson 2 –
Cardboard or wood (EARLY LEARNER)
Toy cars (EARLY LEARNER)
Lesson 3 –
Old white shirt (optional – EARLY LEARNER)
Cardboard (optional – CORE CONNECTIONS)
Soda can (optional – CORE CONNECTIONS)
Lesson 4 –
Battery (EARLY LEARNER)
Christmas light (EARLY LEARNER)
Lesson 5 –
Gear toy set (optional – EARLY LEARNER)
Magnetic socket wrench (GROWING/ADVANCED)
Lesson 6 –
Tire gauge (GROWING/ADVANCED)
Jack – found in car (GROWING/ADVANCED)
Cardboard and paint or markers (EARLY LEARNER)
Lesson 7 –
Posterboard – optional (CORE CONNECTIONS)
Lesson 9 –
Jack (GROWING/ADVANCED)
Jack stands (GROWING/ADVANCED)
Standard tools and safety gear (GROWING/ADVANCED)
Oil filter wrench (~$10 dollars from store) (GROWING/ADVANCED)
Oil filter (GROWING/ADVANCED)
Oil Pan (GROWING/ADVANCED)
Oil (GROWING/ADVANCED)
Funnel (GROWING/ADVANCED)
Lesson 11 –
Blue food coloring or paint (or alternative) (EARLY LEARNER)
Vinegar or alternative (EARLY LEARNER)
Light bulbs or new wiper blades as desired (GROWING/ADVANCED)
Though we get our influence from professionals in the actual trade, we also make sure everything can be double confirmed through other primary sources that our customers can look up. Everything in our unit can be confirmed by the following:
Combustion engine:
https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/internal-combustion-engine-basics
http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2015/ph240/camarena2/
https://cse.umn.edu/me/research/combustion-engines
https://www.mercedes-benz.com/en/innovation/milestones/corporate-history/
Radiator and Coolant:
https://www.uti.edu/blog/automotive/car-coolant
https://www.valvoline.com/en/what-is-antifreeze/
https://www.sweeneybuickgmc.com/blog/antifreeze-vs-coolant-is-coolant-the-same-as-antifreeze/
https://haynes.com/en-us/tips-tutorials/what-is-car-heater-matrix
Camshaft & Crankshaft
https://www.autozone.com/diy/engine/what-are-the-camshaft-and-crankshaft
https://www.allstate.com/resources/car-insurance/serpentine-belts
https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/r/advice/car-maintenance/drive-belts-101-the-different-types-of-belts-and-how-to-replace-them
https://www.autozone.com/diy/belts/what-is-a-timing-belt
Ignition/Starter
https://www.uti.edu/blog/automotive/ignition-timing
https://haynes.com/en-us/tips-tutorials/beginner-s-guide-what-starter-motor-and-what-does-it-do
https://haynes.com/en-us/tips-tutorials/simple-guide-various-automotive-ignition-systems
https://www.uti.edu/blog/automotive/spark-plugs
https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2018/december/flight-training-magazine/how-it-works-spark-plugs
Tires
https://www.pepboys.com/
https://haynes.com/en-us/tips-tutorials/how-does-cars-traction-control-work
https://www.bridgestonetire.com/learn/maintenance/how-to-check-your-tire-tread-penny-test/
https://www.goodyear.com/en-US/learn/tire-basics/how-to-measure-tire-tread-depth
Brakes
https://haynes.com/en-us/tips-tutorials/what-is-abs-and-how-does-it-work
https://www.aaa.com/autorepair/articles/give-your-car-a-brake
https://www.autozone.com/parts/brakes-and-traction-control
https://www.firestonecompleteautocare.com/blog/brakes/everything-you-need-to-know-about-brakes/
Air and Fuel filters
https://haynes.com/en-us/
https://www.meineke.com/services/air-oil-filters-replacement/
https://www.firestonecompleteautocare.com/blog/maintenance/faqs-about-your-cars-cabin-fuel-and-air-filters/
https://www.jiffylube.com/resource-center/bad-fuel-filter-symptoms
Oil
https://www.valvoline.com/en/
https://www.uti.edu/blog/industry-relationships/everything-about-motor-oil
https://ppp.purdue.edu/engine-oils-and-their-filters/
Drivetrain
https://www.maxwellford.com/powertrain-and-drivetrain/
https://www.sterlingmccalltoyota.com/drivetrain-and-powertrain/
https://haynes.com/en-us/tips-tutorials/simple-guide-various-automotive-transmission-types
Industrial Revolutions, coal, vehicles, and important men
https://teachersinstitute.yale.edu/curriculum/units/1981/2/81.02.06.x.html
https://www.egr.msu.edu/~lira/supp/steam/
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/thomas-edisons-patent-application-for-the-light-bulb
https://energyhistory.yale.edu/units/rise-coal-19th-century-united-states
https://www.jstor.org/stable/41378456
https://www.egr.msu.edu/~lira/supp/steam/wattbio.html
https://invention.si.edu/thomas-edisons-inventive-life
https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/thomas-edison
https://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/swan.html
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/thomas-edisons-patent-application-for-the-light-bulb
Improper Names: Collective Pseudonyms from the Luddites to Anonymous. Marco Deserilis
https://www.uh.edu/engines/epi274.htm
Writings of the Luddites. Kevin Binfield
https://campus.murraystate.edu/academic/faculty/kBinfield/luddites/LudditeHistory.htm
https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/lewis-latimer
https://invention.si.edu/innovative-lives-lewis-latimer-1848-1928-renaissance-man
https://vc.bridgew.edu/hoba/9/
https://www.lewislatimerhouse.org/about
https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/1903-wright-flyer/nasm_A19610048000
https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/TRC/Rockets/history_of_rockets.html
Henry Ford Lesson 11:
Kurt Ludecke, I Knew Hitler: The Story of a Nazi who Escaped the Blood Purge (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1937).
New York Times, 5 September 1927, 17
Ford, The International Jew, 9 – 12.
New York Times, 21 February 1921, 11
Indiana Jewish Chronicle, 5 October 1923, 4.
The Dearborn Independent, The International Jew Vol. 4 (1923)
Sapiro vs.