Force And Motion Physics Lesson

This printable Force and Motion unit is a wonderful way to introduce your little learners to some of the basics of physics!

Teaching young kids about force and motion might feel overwhelming. But this week-long unit breaks it down and makes it easy to teach and even easier for our kids to understand.

A poster with the title "Force and Motion" on the top and a smiling girl on a swing.

Physics can sometimes be a difficult subject to explain to your students, especially the younger ones. The best way to teach your students a science lesson–especially hard concepts–is by providing plenty of examples and by making it as hands-on as possible.

That’s exactly what I’ve done with this engaging Force and Motion unit. This physical science unit covers everything from how things move to how energy is transferred and everything in between! Each concept includes a color illustration along with the vocabulary word and explanation to help your students better understand it.

Once you’ve covered the lessons with your students, you can help reinforce their understanding by having them complete the included activities and follow up worksheets. These worksheets are a fantastic way to help your students apply what they’ve learned and ensure they understand the lesson.

And what’s a great lesson without hands-on activities? This unit includes a fabulous activity that covers the concepts of push and pull in a way that will be fun and memorable for your students.

In addition to this unit, you can further your students’ interest in science with this great Interactive Science Notebook!

Would you like to have 4 science experiments planned out for you every month to complement your science lessons? Be sure to take a look at our Monthly Science Experiments Bundle.

This Force And Motion Study Unit Comes With:

Science lesson plans for one week
Definition Posters – 16 pages
How Things Move PowerPoint – 16 pages
How Things Move Worksheet – 1 page
Push Or Pull PowerPoint – 10 pages
Push Or Pull Activity – 9 pages
Push Or Pull Worksheet – 1 page
Gravity Worksheet – 1 page
Friction Investigation Worksheet – 1 page
Ramps, Forces and Motion Experiment Activity – 4 pages
Ramps, Forces and Motion Worksheet – 1 page

Materials Need For Force And Motion Study Unit

paper or cardstock
laminating pouches
laminator
Materials listed inside the product for the Ramps, Forces and Motion activity

Using The Force And Motion Study Unit:

After you purchase this activity and download it here, I recommend you print the activities out on cardstock and laminate them so it can be used year after year.

This science resource is full of an assortment of activities and centers. Therefore, preparation will vary. Below is a brief rundown of each component in the Force and Motion Study Unit.

Overhead shot of various pages from the Force and Motion study unit.

Science Lesson Plans for the Week

Throughout the week, students will complete different science activities learning about Force and Motion. I’m a big fan of including books in my lessons, and this unit starts out with the class reading a non-fiction forces and motion book.

The entire week’s worth of learning is all planned out for you in this study unit! It has everything you need to teach your little learners about Force and Motion and includes interactive lessons as well.

How Things Move PowerPoint

In the 16-page How Things Move PowerPoint, you’ll cover all the different ways things move with your students. There are also 16 definition posters that will help reinforce the concepts with your students.

You’ll also want to collect around 10 objects per group of students to help demonstrate the different ways things move. This allows the students to interact with the objects and better understand each type of movement within the study unit.

I suggest that you print the posters out on card stock and laminate them so they can be used for years to come. You can use them as visual aids during the lessons, then hang them up around your classroom for your students to refer to throughout the week’s learning.

Push And Pull PowerPoint

In the 10-page Push Or Pull PowerPoint, you’ll cover the concept of push or pull with your students. There are also 16 definition posters that will help reinforce the concepts with your students.

Overhead shot of Push or Pull lesson pages.

After completing the PowerPoint you will complete the Push or Pull sorting activity as a class. You will prep for this activity by cutting out the Push and Pull action pictures and “Push” and “Pull” cards.

You will present your students with a picture of an action and then have them help you decide whether the action is push or pull. This activity is fantastic for class interaction, and can also be completed in small groups.

Overhead shot of a child completing the push or pull hands-on activity.

This lesson also includes a Push or Pull scavenger hunt that your students are going to love! Nothing gets my students engaged like going on a scavenger hunt.

Your students will then complete a simple and fun push or pull worksheet. This worksheet will help reinforce what your students have learned while making it easy for you to check if they fully understood the lesson.

Overhead shot of a child completing the Push or Pull worksheet.

Gravity And Weight Lesson

In this section of the study plan, you will cover the concepts of gravity and weight with your students through a couple of experiments, a video and the nonfiction forces and motion book.

To prep for the experiments, you will need a marker and pairs of objects of varying weight (like a pencil and a glue bottle).

You will drop the marker to the ground to demonstrate and explain gravity. You’ll then have your students drop the objects of varying weights to see which one falls to the ground quickest while discussing with them what they notice during the experiment.

Once you’ve completed the experiments, you will have your students complete the gravity worksheet by defining gravity and illustrating what it would look like if their classroom was without gravity.

Overhead shot of a kid completing the Gravity worksheet.

Friction Lesson

In this section, you will start by reading a nonfiction friction book with your students and play an online game about friction with your students.

After that, you will complete an experiment using a ramp and different surfaces with varying amounts of friction.

I absolutely love implementing hands on experiments in my science lessons. My students have lots of fun completing the experiments, and it really helps them better understand the day’s lesson when they get to apply what they’ve learned.

Ramps Lesson

The lesson concludes with a lesson on ramps. You and your students will complete a hands-on experiment on ramps using different objects and angles and observe how far each object goes.

Your students will complete the Ramps, Forces and Motions worksheet as they investigate the different objects.