An igloo is a house made of ice or snow.

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These penguins want to build an igloo on top of this table. They need to lift some ice. The bucket of ice is pretty heavy. Polly Penguin has an idea for how to lift it to Peter Penguin. She’s going to try to use a pulley.... You can try this, too!  

Peter

table

chair

Polly

chair

bucket of ice

rope

a broom handle

1

Peter lays the broom handle between the two chairs. Polly ties one end of the rope to the ice bucket. She loops the other end of the rope around the broom handle. She’s made a simple pulley. She gives the rope a pull, but it’s not enough to lift the bucket.

2

Peter is still waiting for the ice. So, Polly tries another approach. This time, she ties one end of the rope to the broom handle. She loops the rope through the handle of the ice bucket and around the broom handle. Now, Polly has made a compound pulley. She’s able to lift the bucket all the way to the top.

3

Peter has the ice, and the penguins can continue to work on their igloo together.