QUINCY, Illinois - Ideas came to life at Quincy Notre Dame Thursday morning.

Freshman science student are learning about simple machines.

So for the past two weeks the students have worked on creating their own machines.

Each machine had to perform a simple task like turning on a light or punching a button on a calculator.

The students scoured their basements, junk drawers and old toys to come up with the pieces to make their machines work.

Besides getting a a better understanding of the science, the students we talked to said it was just a lot of fun.

Some of the students loved the challenge of coming up with machines.

Others we spoke to enjoyed working with their parents on their inventions.

The students are learning about problem solving and creating the machines was a hands on way to teach that lesson.