Pushes & pulls · Kindergarten
What happens when you push a ball softly, or hard, or from a different side?
A harder push makes a ball go faster and farther.
Pushing from a different side makes the ball go a different way.
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.
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.
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.
*Next Generation Science Standards and NGSS are registered trademarks of WestEd. Neither WestEd nor the lead states and partners that developed the Next Generation Science Standards were involved in the production of this product, and do not endorse it.