This magnet activity has kindergarten to 3rd grade students sort picture cards into things a magnet will pull and things it will not, with a sorting mat, practice page and answer key.
This magnet attraction worksheet has 2nd grade students test seven objects with a magnet and record whether each is metal, iron or steel, and magnetic. An answer key is included for fast, easy checking.
This fun with magnets science activity has 1st to 3rd grade students predict, sort and check whether magnet poles attract or repel. Answer key included.
An invisible pull you can feel
Second graders discover that magnets push and pull without even touching! They test objects and find that magnets attract things made of iron or steel, like paper clips, but not plastic, wood or most coins. They learn that every magnet has a north and a south pole: opposite poles attract, same poles repel. They also find that a magnet's pull can pass through paper, water and even their hand. The click moment is when kids feel two magnets push apart and gasp.
Magnets are pure hands-on wonder. These moves turn that wonder into real science thinking.
Give each group a magnet and a tray of objects. Kids predict "yes" or "no" for each one, then test and sort into two piles. Testing their own predictions builds the habit of checking ideas, and the surprises, like a coin that won't stick, spark great talk.
Why it works: kids understand an idea best when they touch it, then draw it, then write it, the order the U.S. Department of Education recommends for elementary math.
Try it withMagnet ActivityActivitiesOpen it →After kids feel two magnets attract and repel, have them draw the magnets with N and S labels and arrows showing the push or pull. A simple drawing locks in the rule that opposites attract.
Why it works: children learn more from words and pictures together than from words alone (Mayer, 2009).
Try it withMagnet Attraction WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →Hold up an object and kids show a thumbs up or down for "Will a magnet pick it up?" Then test it in front of them. Quick prediction rounds keep everyone thinking and catch the common idea that all metals stick.
Why it works: a big review of study methods ranked quick self-quizzing among the most powerful ways to remember (Dunlosky and colleagues, 2013).
Try it withFun with Magnets Science ActivityActivitiesOpen it →Magnets feel like a magic trick. These are favorites in our classrooms.
Teacher favorites right now: Magnet Activity, Magnet Attraction Worksheet and Fun with Magnets Science Activity.
They learn that magnets attract objects made of iron or steel, that magnets have north and south poles, and that opposite poles attract while same poles repel.
Magnets attract iron and steel, but not metals like aluminum, copper or most coins. Testing a soda can and a paper clip side by side shows kids the difference.
Put a paper clip in a cup of water and pull it out with a magnet held outside the cup. Kids see that a magnet's pull passes right through water and plastic.
Large classroom magnets are fine with supervision. Keep tiny or powerful magnets away from young children, since swallowing them is dangerous.
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