For the past few weeks, we have been doing a study of magnets. It’s been interesting as well as fun.
For our magnet sensory bin, I paired it with worksheets for the kids to fill out with a spot for them to either write the name of the item or draw a picture of it (for my pre-readers) and then fill in whether it was magnetic or not.
The sensory bin is a very simple one of white rice and various household objects, not all of which are magnetic. Â I also included a strong magnet and a magnet wand.
I included magnet activities in the workbox rotation. Â These included:
magnetic wand and chips
cut up pipe cleaners in a plastic bottle that can be moved around using a magnet or magnetic wand on the outside was a very popular activity
file folder game of sorting objects into magnetic and non-magnetic categories
I gave the kids worksheets (you can get them here) with a pile of objects to kick start our magnet unit:
This was a fun activity and easy for all the kids to understand.
The kids did all kinds of activities and experiments using this Magnet Science kit. Â The one that the kids liked the best was when they could make it look like the little car was going on its own by moving a magnet under the table!
We also used Magnetic Marvels, a really neat kit that included lots of magnet tricks, which the boys loved and activities like extracting the iron from our cereal.
I also had plans to build a compass with the kids but the weather hasn’t been cooperating for that one, so we may pick that up when it gets nicer out. Â I think the neatest part about our magnet study was how easy it was to adapt to the different ages and ability levels of the kids. Â They made some great observations on their own and had a lot of fun with all of it!
If you are looking for information on making sensory bins, you may be interested in my book. 