Forces and Magnets

#TheCompleteSeries5lessons

This ready-to-teach Forces and Magnets Year 3 planning pack contains everything you need to deliver these fun, practical lessons, including lesson plans, slides, activity ideas, differentiated worksheets, challenges and many other resources. It's enough to make your Science teaching truly magnetic!

#Lesson1PushesandPulls

The first lesson in this Push and Pull Forces Year 3 series reviews what your class already know about forces, looking specifically at pushes and pulls, and helps them to identify which direction forces are acting in. They will also explore how some forces need contact between objects.

This downloadable ready-to-teach Forces and Magnets lesson contains a lesson plan, slideshow presentation and printable teaching resources.

#Lesson2ComparingMovement

This Year 3 Forces lesson starts by exploring what a force meter is and how they work. Your class can then undertake a variety of practical enquiries to explore how different surfaces affect how an object will move across that surface, introducing the idea of friction.

The children will be challenged to consider conducting a fair test in their investigation, making sure steps are taken to ensure their readings are accurate and reliable. They will make careful observations and measurements using force meters or a ruler.

This downloadable lesson contains a lesson plan, slideshow presentation and printable teaching resources.

#Lesson3MagneticForces

In this Magnetic Forces KS2 lesson, children will be introduced to magnets, and learn how they can exert a force on certain objects without touching them.

They will explore the different forces a magnetic field can exert, depending on which poles are facing each other. In their independent activities, they will show their understanding of this by using the correct scientific vocabulary.

This Magnetic Forces KS2 lesson includes a detailed plan, informative slide show and differentiated, printable activity sheets.

#Lesson4MagneticMaterials

In this Magnetic Materials KS2 lesson, children recap on what they already know about magnets, before beginning to discuss and predict what other materials could be attracted to or repelled by magnets.

In their independent activities, children test and record the results for a variety of objects made from different materials. They are encouraged to look carefully at their findings and notice what the magnetic materials have in common.

An easy-to-follow plan, a set of slides for the teaching input, and differentiated worksheets are all included in this downloadable Magnetic Materials KS2 lesson pack.

#Lesson5UsesforMagnets

In this final lesson, your KS2 class will discuss and explore the uses of magnets. The included lesson slides look at different uses such as recycling, credit cards and computers as well as compasses and fridge magnets!

Challenge your class to investigate magnet strengths and conduct a fair test with careful predictions and measurements. Alternatively, have your class create their own compasses using a needle and a magnet.

This lesson comes with a detailed lesson plan, PDF lesson slides and accompanying printable resources.

Free Overview (Medium-Term Plan)

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Free Assessment Grid

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Curriculum Objectives covered

• asking simple questions and recognising that they can be answered in different ways
• observing closely, using simple equipment
• performing simple tests
• identifying and classifying
• gathering and recording data to help in answering questions
• asking relevant questions and using different types of scientific enquiries to answer them
• setting up simple practical enquiries, comparative and fair tests
• making systematic and careful observations and, where appropriate, taking accurate measurements using standard units, using a range of equipment, including thermometers and data loggers
• reporting on findings from enquiries, including oral and written explanations, displays or presentations of results and conclusions
• using results to draw simple conclusions, make predictions for new values, suggest improvements and raise further questions
• identifying differences, similarities or changes related to simple scientific ideas and processes
• using straightforward scientific evidence to answer questions or to support their findings

• compare how things move on different surfaces
• notice that some forces need contact between two objects, but magnetic forces can act at a distance
• observe how magnets attract or repel each other and attract some materials and not others
• compare and group together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of whether they are attracted to a magnet, and identify some magnetic materials
• describe magnets as having two poles
• predict whether two magnets will attract or repel each other, depending on which poles are facing