Do you feel a little apprehensive when it is time to teach all about force and motion? Here you will find all the awesome activities and resources to help save you some prepping and thinking time. We all need a break after all. Force and motion should be fun! Right?
Before I begin with my top 10 list of wonderful hands-on activities that I compiled from many great sites across the web, you might find my unit handy. I created a force and motion pack that you can download including a PowerPoint, interactive notebooks, and worksheets.
You can click on any of the images to be directed or click here. It would be a good idea to use this pack with any of the list of activities for a rich lesson plan.
The PowerPoint includes 21 editable slides. It covers Force, Motion, Magnetism, Friction, Gravity, Mass, Weight, Isaac Newton, Newton’s three laws of motion, Fun facts about force and motion, and review discussion questions. Most slides include real world pictures and examples to help with understanding.
The 6 printables include review questions from the powerpoint, word search of force and motion vocabulary, acrostic poem about force (students write it), write and draw pictures of things you can push or pull in the provided space, and a page where the students draw a happy face if an object is magnetic or draws a sad face if it is non-magnetic. Answer keys are included.
The interactive notebook part of the unit includes a magnet with interactive steps to cut, glue, fill in, and color. Also, another about Isaac newton and his three laws of motion. After they follow the steps to cut, glue, and color, the students will write information under each flap. Lastly included is a vocabulary foldable. The topics of the vocabulary foldable include force, motion, friction, inertia, speed, acceleration, gravity, and mass vs. weight. Directions plus examples are included for each interactive notebook page.
10 Awesome-ly Fun Force and Motion Activities
1. Create Catapults – A catapult is something that you put tension to and suddenly release to hurl an object some distance. The Science Gal shows an engaging activity that you can add to your curriculum. It explains how students design and create their own catapults using simple material.
2. The Inertia Tower Activity – This activity is a great way to introduce Newton’s first law of motion – the law of inertia. They used Wooden Blocks
3. Build and test matchbox car ramps with different slopes – Check out playdoughtoplato to know what I am talking about! She has some wonderful ideas as well.
4. Make Marshmallow Shooters – It looks easy to make and fun too! Great for partners to work with since each person has their own strength.
5. Create Marble Mazes – This is such a fun activity and it helps students understand motion while working in groups.
6. Experiment with an egg to test Newton’s First Law of Motion. Head on over to LongLiveLearning to print some free PDF Expirement pages!
7. Create Marshmallow Catapults
8. Work on a Friction science experiment – You will need rice for this one. It is super easy to make especially with great detailed instruction. You can also download an observation sheet.
9. A Balancing Robot Activity – This is one of my favorite activities. You can even download the free robot printable on BuggyandBuddy!
10. Pendulum Painting – A pendulum is a weight hung from a fixed point so that it can swing back and forth freely. This activity is a great way to combine art and science. It can get messy so I would recommend doing it outside.
I hope you liked the list of force and motion activities. If you have other cool ideas, leave a comment below and I will be sure to check them out.
Videos That Help Teach Force And Motion
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I don’t normally comment on articles, but I will say that these are great links. Thanks so much for putting the effort into this list and allowing us all to benefit from it!
Thank you Jennifer for the nice comment. I am happy to know you found the list useful!
The catapult is one of my favorite ideas and activities for force and motion.