Make a Slot Machine - Kid Project

My son made a slot machine.

This is a great hands-on thinking project especially for those future engineers who love to tinker. There are not right or wrong answers, just a million different ways to do something similar. In fact, the challenge can be modified to meet the project goals too.

The Challenge
Using cardboard, tape, glue, string, straws, and whatever else you want to include here (recycle bins are wonderful), ....................

Create a machine that will randomly return coins.
or
Create a machine that will sort coins based on size.
or
Create a machine that will return one item of the customer's choosing (vending machine).

Here is one my son created.

Beginning with a cardboard box, he created multiple points where citizens could donate money to either Vanilla or Hega Vega, his two stuffed hedgehogs.

 Bills could be placed into the wide slot, coins into the small slot, and wads of cash could be inserted into the money drain.

 Coins could be retrieved through the special access panel at the bottom of the box.

But here's the cool part. The inner workings. Inside the machine, there were levers and rails where money could be channeled out different slots by pressing or pulling on certain levers on the exterior of the box. In the photo above, the quarter rolls down the middle rail and out the slot.

In this photo, a dime drops to the bottom rail and rolls out.