11/4/22, 2:00 PM Push and Pull Forces: What Makes Things Move?

Push and Pull Forces: What Makes Things Move?

Summary
GRADE RANGE
Kindergarten

GROUP SIZE
2-3 students

ACTIVE TIME
40 minutes

TOTAL TIME
40 minutes

AREA OF SCIENCE
Physics

KEY CONCEPTS
Pushes, pulls, motion, forces

CREDITS
Sabine De Brabandere, PhD, Science Buddies
Video narration by Jennifer E Paz

PRICING
Free for a limited time thanks to individual donors

Video Lesson

Image credit: "strike!" by Tinou Bao is licensed under CC BY 2.0 from Flickr

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11/4/22, 2:00 PM Push and Pull Forces: What Makes Things Move?

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Overview
Kindergarten students are used to moving objects. They throw balls, roll toy cars, and sweep the floor, but
how much do they think about the forces behind these movements? In this fun hands-on lesson, students
will use a game (rolling balls) to explore how pushing and pulling affects an object's motion.

Learning Objectives
● Discover how pushes and pulls create motion.

● Describe how an object will move when a push or pull is applied to it.

● Explain that to start, stop or change an objects' motion, it needs a push or a pull.

Materials
Per group:

● One ball; tennis balls, or similarly sized balls, work best.

Prep Work (10 minutes)

● Collect enough balls so that there is one for each group.

● Make space so students can sit on the ground across from each other in groups of two or three.

Engage (4 minutes)

In this video students are shown everyday examples of moving objects and asked to think about what
objects they move and how they do it.

Explore (32 minutes)

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11/4/22, 2:00 PM Push and Pull Forces: What Makes Things Move?

In this video, students are led through a series of ball-rolling experiments to discover how applying
pushes and pulls can start or stop an object's motion.

Reflect (4 minutes)

This video summarizes for students everything they have discovered about how pulls and pushes create
motion. It also shows them real world examples of pushes and pulls, including how natural forces, like
wind, can create pushes and pulls that move objects such as kites, sailboats, and wind turbines.

NGSS Alignment
This lesson helps students prepare for these Next Generation Science Standards Performance
Expectations:

● K-PS2-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or different
directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object.

This lesson focuses on these aspects of NGSS Three Dimensional Learning:

Science & Engineering Practices Disciplinary Core Ideas Crosscutting Concepts

Planning and Carrying Out PS2.A: Forces and Motion. Pushing or Cause and Effect. Simple tests can be
Investigations. With guidance, plan and pulling on an object can change the designed to gather evidence to support or
refute student ideas about causes.

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11/4/22, 2:00 PM Push and Pull Forces: What Makes Things Move?
conduct an investigation in collaboration speed or direction of its motion and can
with peers. start or stop it.

Assess
● Assessment options and a rubric can be found in this file (PDF).

● You can also use this worksheet to access if students can identify the difference between a pull and a
push.

Extensions
● Playing a game of tug-of-war is a fun way to show that pulling makes a rope move. It can also
demonstrate the effect of pulling on the same object in opposite directions, and the cumulative effect of
several people pulling in the same direction.

● Read the picture book Equal Shmequal by Virginia Kroll and illustrated by Philomena O'Neill for another
fun look at how an equal pull in tug-of-war is not always the same thing as having an equal number of
players on each side.

● For more videos how the forces in pushes and pulls lead to motion, try Force, Push and Pull, created by
Ms. Egan and her class, or Force and Motion, from Science Video for Kids.

Related Resources
Lesson Plans

Push, Pull and Weight

Lesson Plan Grade: Kindergarten
Experimenting with balls is fun! In this hands-on lesson,
you and your students will make them collide and study
how balls can push each-other and people too! While
exploring, students will also feel how pushing a light ball
is different from pushing a heavier ball. Weight is
important. This lesson fits well together with a lesson
where students push balls to discover how people use
pushes and pulls to change motion. Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

K-PS2-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or
different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object.

Careers

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11/4/22, 2:00 PM Push and Pull Forces: What Makes Things Move?

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forces-motion

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