At first glance, it seems that spinning tops are back and the latest recycled trend with kids.  But take a closer look, and you’ll quickly see why they’re so popular.

Battles.  “Daddy (or Mommy), will you battle me?” has become the most frequently used sentence in our house.

Now, I’m no pacifist, but we made it 5+ years before Greg knew that guns existed.  And we’ve taught him fairly well about how fighting is not the way to resolve things, and we generally discourage anything that resembles violence (yes, we screen movies before he’s allowed to see them).  But you can’t keep kids from talking to other kids, especially at school.

So we caved, and a Beyblade Battle arena and two tops–excuse me, Beyblades–showed up for Christmas.  And some learning actually took place.

Example #1:  The faster you spin a top, the longer it will stay spinning (momentum, angular velocity).

Example #2:  The pointier the tip on the bottom, the longer it will stay spinning (overcoming friction).

Example #3:  The heavier the top, the more likely it is to prevail (mass, momentum).

It didn’t take but a couple of days for Greg to show me the different kinds of tips–and which was clearly prevailing.  Then he started “ripping” (pulling the rip cord) even harder–to the point where we had to make house rules–e.g. if the top bounces out of the arena, you lose.  And finally, he could tell which were the heaviest–and since you can mix and match parts, he would assembly the pointiest tip to the heaviest top–to create the ultimate Beyblade that no one could beat.

How about that for a 6 year old?  Physics in action–and he doesn’t even realize he’s learning it.