Making things move booklet
Making things move booklet
- Unit 1: Living things
- Unit 2: Sound
- Unit 3: Materials in my world
- Unit 4: The Earth
- Unit 5: Humans
- Unit 6: Forces
Making things move
We investigate small and bigger pushes, find things that need electricity to work, make predictions about what will happen, record observations in a table, and describe what happened to check if it matches a prediction.
Getting started
• Draw something that is very easy to push or pull.
• Talk to a friend about why this is easy to move.
When you move, you use push and pull forces. A skateboarder pushes with his feet and pulls with his hand. Some pushes are tiny or little, others are bigger.
Activity 1 — Let’s see the force of the push
A balloon can help us see a pushing force. The girl is pushing with a balloon, which shows how hard she is pushing. Use a balloon to push things in class and show tiny pushes, little pushes, and bigger pushes. Start with a tiny push, then push a little harder.
Try these things. Does the balloon help to show the push? Record your pushing in a table like this:
| Object | Tiny push | Little push | Bigger push |
|---|---|---|---|
| chair | it did not move | it did not move | it moved |
Think like a scientist — Measure the push and the slide
In Topic 6.2 you used a rubber band to give things a pushing force. Pulling the band harder gives a bigger pushing force. Choose some things to push with the rubber band. Predict which things will not move with just a little push. Give each thing a little push, a bigger push and a biggest push. Record your results.
| Thing | Little push | Bigger push | Biggest push |
|---|---|---|---|
| pen | 4 bricks | 6 bricks | 9 bricks |
Was your prediction right?
Electricity can make things move
Many things that move don’t need electricity. But some machines do. Some use electric cells, others use mains electricity. The toy car uses cells. The food mixer uses mains. Electricity makes both machines move.
Safety: You should not touch mains powered plugs and wires.
Activity 2 — Electricity can make things move
Look around your classroom and school. Record things that need electricity. Do they use electric cells or mains electricity? Record your observations like this:
| Machine | Mains | Cell | Makes things move |
|---|---|---|---|
| food mixer | ✓ | ✓ | |
Activity 3 — Electricity can make air move
This fan is powered by cells. Inside are two cells that power the fan. Electricity from the cells makes the fan turn. The turning fan pushes air. The moving air will make things move.
Look at a fan and its cells. Can you switch it on and off? Will the electric fan make things move? Try light things such as ribbons or a feather.
How am I doing?
Ask a friend to name some things in your classroom that can be pushed or pulled. Are they right? Tell your friend how to measure pushes and how far things move.
If your prediction is wrong, does this matter?
Look what I can do!
• I can investigate small and bigger pushes.
• I can find things that need electricity to work (cells vs mains).
• I can make predictions about what will happen.
• I can record my observations in a table.
• I can describe what happened and say if it matches my prediction.