Kids &Trees..and a rope

A couple of days ago, we had a morning in a local park with 9 kids. The kids played well in expected combinations for the most part. By mid-afternoon, we had 7 kids and 4 moms, food and a 50' length of rope. Oh, and a good tree.

They climbed the tree.....

They used the rope to create a pulley to lift people -- first Scotty, then Dan once they'd perfected the technique.
Dan & Emma played the necessary game of chase.

By the end of the day, the rope was being used to tie Andy up, something like a maypole. This game never got beyond the winding stage, so I don't know what the bigger plan was.

They all took turns whipping the rope while it was tied to the tree. I mentioned to the kids that I was sure there's a scientific principle to explain what the rope was doing, but I didn't know what it was or how to explain it.

Later, I showed this picture to Gary and he said "sine waves" -- so they were exploring sine waves. That's why I rely on him to be my science guy!