Materials available in this Magnets Lesson Plan include two Magnet Activities and four Magnet Worksheets.Our Magnet Lesson Plan provides you with
This Magnetic Earth Worksheet gives 4th Grade students four magnet words and six real-life clues to match, plus an answer key, so magnetism vocabulary sticks long after the lesson ends.
An invisible pull you can feel
In 4th grade, kids discover that magnets push and pull without even touching. They learn every magnet has a north pole and a south pole, and that opposite poles attract while like poles repel. Students test which materials are magnetic (iron, steel, nickel) and which are not (wood, plastic, most coins). They map invisible magnetic fields with iron filings and learn that the Earth itself acts like a giant magnet, which is why a compass works. The click moment is when two magnets push each other away and kids feel a force they can't see!
Magnets are pure hands-on fun. These moves add real science thinking.
Give each group a magnet and a bag of objects. Kids predict which will stick, then test and record. Talking about the surprises, like a coin that doesn't stick, is where the real learning happens.
Why it works: going from real objects to pictures to symbols is a core recommendation of the U.S. Department of Education's elementary math guide.
Try it withMagnets Lesson PlanActivitiesOpen it →Put a magnet under a sheet of paper and sprinkle iron filings on top. Kids sketch the pattern they see. Drawing the field turns an invisible force into something they can explain.
Why it works: pairing a picture with each word gives kids two ways to remember it, a well-tested principle of how people learn (Mayer, 2009).
Try it withMagnetic Earth WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →Show how a compass needle always points north, then explain that Earth acts like a giant bar magnet. Have kids label Earth's magnetic poles on a diagram.
Why it works: showing first, practicing together, then letting kids try alone is the "gradual release" model teachers have relied on for decades (Pearson and Gallagher, 1983).
Try it withMagnetic Earth WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →Teacher favorites right now: Magnets Lesson Plan and Magnetic Earth Worksheet.
They learn that magnets have north and south poles, that opposite poles attract and like poles repel, and that magnets pull on some metals like iron and steel.
Every magnet has a magnetic field around it. When opposite poles face each other they pull together, and when like poles face each other they push apart.
Iron, steel, nickel and cobalt are magnetic. Wood, plastic, glass, paper and aluminum are not.
A compass needle is a tiny magnet. It lines up with Earth's magnetic field and points north.
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