Pushes & PullsNGSS* K-PS2-110–15 minFree

Push the Ball!

Soft and hard pushes, and changing a ball's direction. A narrated pushes-and-pulls lab for kindergarten.

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“Push the Ball! What happens when you push a ball softly, or really hard?”

A red ball, orange cones and a tower of blocks on a sunny gym floor

In the lab

What your child does

Pushes a ball softly, medium and hard and compares how far it rolls; uses that to knock over a tower; then, from above, works out which side to push from to send a ball to a target, and turns a rolling ball with a push.

1
Wonder
A ball sits still. Tap the hand: a push makes it roll.
2
Guess
Will a soft or a hard push go farther? Tap a picture.
3
Test
Soft, medium and hard pushes. A flag marks where each stops; the chart fills in.
4
Think
"Which push went farthest?" Then: was your guess right?
5
Challenge
Knock the block tower down (only a hard push reaches it).
6
Which way?
Send the ball to a star 4 times (it rolls away from the hand), then turn a rolling ball with a push from the side.
Badge
The big ideas in a sentence, a badge, and a printable lab record.

Two picture buttons, soft push and hard push, above a ball on a gym floor — Guess: will a soft or a hard push go farther?

Three flags on the floor and a chart of soft, medium and hard pushes — Test: flags mark where each push stopped

The ball knocking over a tower of colored blocks — Challenge: which push knocks the tower down?

A view from above: a ball in a circle with four pushing hands and a star — Which way? Push from the right side to reach the star

The standard

K-PS2-1*

Children plan and carry out a simple investigation comparing what pushes of different strengths and different directions do to an object's motion.

Core idea: Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions
Science practice: Planning and Carrying Out Investigations
Grade: Kindergarten (ages 5–6)

Read K-PS2-1 on nextgenscience.org

For grown-ups

Talk about it

"Why did the ball go farther that time?"
"Where would you push to make it go to the door?"
"What else can a push do?" (start, stop, speed up, turn)

Try it for real

Roll a ball down a hallway with a soft, a medium and a hard push, and mark each stop with a piece of tape. Then tie a string to a toy car and compare a gentle pull with a strong one.

Pushes & Pulls