Teaching elementary students about force and motion is super important and can be really fun. Force is just a fancy way of saying “push” or “pull”, and it’s what makes things move or change direction. Motion is simply the movement of an object from one place to another.
Together, force and motion help us understand how things move and interact with one another and with the world around them. Let’s take a look at the progression of force and motion from kindergarten through 6th grade.
As you can see, middle school force gets pretty intense fast. To ensure students are prepared for 6th grade force concepts, they need to leave elementary with:
- a strong understanding of friction, gravity, magnetism, and equal/unequal forces
- experience in planning and conducting a variety of investigations related to the effects of force
Let’s look at some hands-on, effective force and motion activities for 2nd through 6th grade.
🏐 Make a Marble Coaster
🎳 2nd Grade Unit
For 2nd, let’s keep lessons quick, focused, and hands-on.
Explore force concepts with a marble maze, marshmallow poppers, marbles, toy cars, and beach balls!
Each lesson is designed to take 20-30 minutes. With teacher directions, a projectable Lesson Sheet, and student worksheets, you’ll quickly be prepped with easy activities!
See it on TPT: 2nd Grade Unit
“With the new TEKS in Texas, coming up with new ideas was a bit of work but wow this did all the thinking and preparing! I loved it immensely and will use again.” -Ivonne
🧲 3rd Grade Labs in a Snap
For 3rd grade, hands-on investigations with strong follow-up are best. Labs in a Snap makes this simple with 9 force-and-motion investigations, student pages, and discussion ideas.
Play tug-of-war, use magnets to attract paperclips through different liquids, and roll cars down ramps.
See it on TPT: Labs in a Snap
“This material was easy to follow and engaging for my students to participate in. I like that I was able to provide a hands-on learning experience without having to do much of the planning and thinking.” -Rebecca
4th Grade Racecars
4th Grade Racecars
Let’s not overcomplicate investigation design. This unit simplifies the process and walks you and your students through designing an investigation into the effects of friction on the distance a toy car will travel.
Everything you need from an introduction and vocabulary to the investigation and a quiz is all included.
See it on TPT: Racecars Investigation Design Mini-Unit
“This force and motion investigation gives students authentic opportunities to explore scientific concepts through hands-on learning. The activities encourage critical thinking and collaboration.” -Alicia
🎈 5th Grade Balloon Rockets
Variables, a control, hypotheses… don’t worry, I’ve got you.
This unit helps you introduce balloon rockets, teach testable questions and variables, and then walk your students through designing an investigation. There’s even a vocabulary study and a quiz.
See it on TPT: Balloon Rockets Unit
“This activity really helped my students understand how to set up and analyze a force and motion experiment. They had an absolute blast with it as well!” -Megan
🎾 6th Grade Force Stations
Explore force with 5 hands-on stations for gravity, magnetism, friction, applied force, and normal force.
Students engage in discussions, read a text, complete a graphic organizer, use science notebooks, complete 5 hands-on lab stations, and assess their learning with a quiz, open-response reflection prompt, and a CER.
See it on TPT: Forces Activity Pack
“This is a perfect resource for TEKS 6.7A. The slides and notes were helpful for all my learners and the stations were fun for them to explore & easy for me to set up!” -Lauren
Top Teacher Tools
These resources for force and motion provide fun, hands-on experiences while being rigorous and comprehensive!
