Working with Magnets

Teacher has lots of magnets in the class. We can use them every day, but today we had a good look at the magnets. We had magnet stations - 5 different tables doing 5 different things. We got a chance to try the different stations. At one station we had to guess, then test, what things in the classroom magnets will stick to. We recorded our results on a big sheet of paper.At the next station we had red and blue magnets that had North and South on them. We had to guess, then try, what happens when you put North and South together (they attract each other). Then we tried North with North and South with South (they repel). We tried this on dowel rods with purple and yelllow magnets too.At the third station we had to guess, then test, what a magnet will work through. We found that magnets work through pencil cases, clothes, tables, chairs, books, paper, baskets and lots more. We recorded our results on a big sheet of paper.At the fourth station we made our own magnets with steel nails. The nails were not magnetic at the start (and if they were, we dropped them on the floor so they lost their magnetism). We magnetised each one by rubbing a magnet off the nail. We then tested to see whether it was magnetic by picking up a paper clip with the nail. This worked really well.At the last station we made magnetic car racing tracks. We drew racing tracks and put a magnet underneath each one, and a paper clip on top. We got our cars (paper clips) to run along the track by moving the magnet underneath.Such a lot of cool things you can do with magnets!!!