Learning at Home week 4: Forces
This list contains resources suitable for children learning at home. They link to the BBC Bitesize Daily Science programme for week 4 on forces.
Forces and Motion
Pushing, pulling and twisting materials -ages 5-7
Watch the first 4 minutes of this video clip, which shows a class learning how pushing and pulling forces help them to create a model of the 'big bad wolf' from clay. Children can try and create their own model of an animal or character from a story. They should talk write down the forces that were involved in creating their models.
Magnet Maze * suitable for home learning*
Magnets- ages 7-9
How better to develop understanding of magnetic materials than by producing a maze game. Ask children to draw their own a maze layout on a plastic bottle and use a magnet to guide objects, such as a 1p coin, around the maze. Try out different objects, some wil not be magnetic, so won't be guided around the maze by the magnet. Children can sort the objects that they have tries into two groups magnetic and non-magnetic.
Ticket to Ride
Friction, air and water resistance - ages 9-11
The Paddle Racer challenge on pages 12-13 of this resource are a great way to learn about forces. Children design and test a boat made from an empty carton and powered by an elastic band. See if you can make your boat travel forwards and backwards. Look at the design of your boat and decide what you might change to make it travel faster or further? Test out your ideas. Ask children why the shape of their boat might make a difference to how fast it moves through the water.
Rocket Mice
Extra Activity
This activity involves shooting a rocket high into the air by rapidly squashing a plastic bottle launcher.
It’s a great opportunity to challenge the old saying “What goes up must come down”. You won’t get this rocket into space—but some real rockets do go fast enough to prove the saying wrong.
Learning outcomes:
- Investigate the effects of air pressure, air resistance and gravity.
- Use observation and questioning (curiosity) skills.
- See how forces have useful and relevant applications in our everyday lives.
