physics experiments for kindergarten

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80 of the Best Physics Projects for Clever Kids

February 21, 2020 by Ana Dziengel Leave a Comment

Physics projects are some of the most memorable science projects your kids will ever try. There, I said it even if you don’t believe it!

You see, physics is the branch of science that studies flying, launching, moving, and floating, as well as magnets, motors and electrical circuits, heat, light, and sound. Physics is fun! After you look over some of the projects in this collection I hope you’ll agree.

Now before we begin I want to address a common notion a lot of folks have about this branch of science: Physics is really hard! I completely understand this thought.

In fact the only class I ever almost failed in my entire academic career was physics. And I know why. Physics was presented to me as formulas about force, equilibrium, and momentum with not one single demonstration. Then I walked into a structural engineering class where we discussed the forces at work in designing buildings and my teacher told us he didn’t want us to open a book all quarter. Instead he told us to build models. He wanted us to experiment with how forces really interact in a structure by testing them in hands-on experiments. It was a profound experience for me and suddenly all the book learning “clicked.”

My goal with this collection of projects is to make physics more accessible and inviting to parents, teachers, and kids alike! But before we dive into the physics projects let’s get a bird’s eye view of what physics is all about!

What is the study of physics?

Physics is the branch of science that studies matter, how it moves and how it interacts. It is a HUGE topic and there is a lot of overlap with chemistry and biology. It’s really easy to hear the word physics and have your eyes glaze over, but in simple words physics is the study of how things move and interact with each other.

How do you explain physics to a child?

The best way to explain physics to kids is to skip an explanation and do a demonstration . Since physics encompasses the study of motion, light, electricity, magnetism, and aerodynamics, instead of trying to explain these concepts demonstrate them! I am a big believer in hands-on projects that give kids a chance to experience and experiment with a scientific concept rather than just hear or read about it. We all know an amazing project is memorable while a wordy explanation is forgettable. Kids are great visual learners so give them the chance to get excited about physics through projects!

What are main branches of Physics?

While I was assembling this post I realized scientists define the branches of physics in many different ways. The following is a list of the most commonly cited branches of physics compiled from both online and offline resources:

Mechanics This includes force, motion, fluid and aerodynamics, and is the branch most people think of when they hear the word physics.
Electromagnetism Electricity is physics!

Thermodynamics

Sound and Waves
Quantum Mechanics This is for the very serious! It’s the branch that studies atomic particles.

80+ Physics Projects for Kids

How to use this guide.

The physics projects for kids featured here are sorted by branches of physics and subcategories as follows (click on the topic to skip to that section) :

Mechanics and Motion: Work & Energy, Newton’s Law’s of Motion, Radial Forces, Gravity, and Balance
Electromagnetism & Electricity: Magnetism, Electricity

Optics & Sound

Heat, Liquids, and Air: Thermodynamics, Hydrodynamics, & Aerodynamics

Some topics and categories were really easy to find great projects for (work and energy) some were more challenging (thermodynamics) and at least one impossible (Quantum mechanics, but that’s okay!). We tried to assemble as many as we could on this list!

Please note that many of these projects could fit in two or more categories as they demonstrate various principles and forces. I only classified them once on this list.

Mechanics and Motion

When most people think of physics they think about mechanics and motion. Mechanics refers to the motion of objects and motion is the position change of an object over time. Everything around us is constantly in motion. Even when we consider ourselves to be sitting still, the earth is rotating on its axis and moving around the sun.

Scientists have studied motion over the centuries and determined there are laws that can explain the motion of objects. These laws revolve around the idea of forces .

A force is something that pushes or pulls on an object to make it move. A force can make an object speed up (like kicking a ball) or or slow down (like friction) or hold an object in place (like gravity). Momentum is the force an object has based on its weight and motion. For a deeper look into forces go here .

In this section we’ll cover projects that focus on motion including 3 of the most famous laws of motion as outlined by Sir Isaac Newton.

Work and Energy Projects

Energy is defined as the ability to do work. Work refers to the amount of energy needed to move something over a distance using a force. The Law of Conservation of Energy states that energy is never created or destroyed it is simply changed from one state to another.

Potential Energy vs. Kinetic Energy

Two types of energy frequently disucssed in phyiscs are kinetic energy and potential energy. Kinetic energy is energy in motion. Potential energy is energy that is stored. An example of potential enrgy is a rubber band twisted up and held in place. Once the rubber band is released it unwinds quickly as kinetic energy.

Here are some projects that demonstrate work and energy:

Physics Project Idea: Rollback Can

Steam activity: stixplosions, how to build a catapult, transfer of energy science experiment, catapult stem project – diy catapult for kids, how to make a windmill model with a printable pattern, simple machines for kids: lego pulleys stem building challenge, power up your planes with a paper airplane launcher, featured work & energy videos:, newton's laws of motion.

Sir Isaac Newton was a mathematician and scientist who studied motion in the 1600's. He is credited with discovering the force of gravity as well as developing three laws of motion to describe how objects move. We'll look at each law of motion and some projects that highlight them below.

Newton's First Law of Motion is called the Law of Interia and states: An object at rest tends to stay as rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon by an external force.

Newton's Second Law of Motio n states that the acceleration of an object depends on the force applied to the object and the object's mass. The relationship can be described with the following formula: F=ma

Force= Mass x Acceleration

Newton's Third Law of Motion states: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Here are some projects that focus on the laws of motion:

How To Make A Simple Newton's Cradle

Easy inertia science experiments with pennies, inertia zoom ball: super fun s.t.e.a.m. project, make a balloon pinwheel science demonstration, physics activities that explore newton's laws of motion, radial forces.

Kids love things that spin! There are several types of forces and movement that act upon objects as they spin:

Angular Momentum The momentum of an object rotating around a point.

Centripetal Force A force that pulls an object towards the center point, causing it to move in a circular path. The force is always orthogonal to the fixed center.

Centrifugal Force A force that pushes away from the center as an object is spinning. It's not a REAL force but an apparent force.

Friction is a force that slows down objects sliding against each other. It's the reason that spinning tops eventually slow down. If there was no friction on between the point on which a top spins and the surface on which it is spinning, it would spin forever!

Action Art: Spin Art Using a Bike

Diy spin art: art spinners from steam play & learn, simple paper toys: paper tops, homemade toy idea: diy skip-it, diy toys: spinning tops (+ magical disappearing colors), diy toy idea: spin-finite tops, gorgeous spin art hearts painting activity for kids, easy fidget spinner diy (free template) - science fair project idea, halloween science for kids: pumpkin spinning tops, stem toy: penny spinners, featured radial forces videos:.

Gravity is a force that attracts two bodies together. It's also the natural force that pulls everything towards the earth. The greater the mass of an object the more garvitational pull it has.

Scientists measure the acceration of gravity at the Earth's surface at 32 feet per second squared! That means the longer an object is free falling the more it's speed increases (not accounting for air resistance).

Here are some phyics projects for kids that explore the force of gravity and speed:

Recycled DIY Marble Run

Playground sized diy marble run, science & art for kids: salt pendulum.

Substitute paint for the sand to make a painting pendulum!

Drippy Gravity Painting | TinkerLab

Gravity beads experiment, the lincoln high dive, egg drop project with printable recording sheets, preschool science: weight, featured gravity videos:.

In phyiscs we use the word balance to describe a situation in which two forces are equal in magnitude and extered in opposite directions.

See saws and scales are two easy wasy to illustrate the concept of balance to kids. Here are some additonal project ideas:

How to Make a Balance Toy: Balance Hearts STEAM Activity

Diy balance toy & game, awesome earth day activity: make an earth balancer, how to make balance scales for toddlers and preschoolers, easy kid's craft: straw mobile, engineering for kids: twirling twig mobile, featured balance project videos, electromagnetism & electricity.

Did you know that electricity and magnetism are physics topics? Both of these “invisible” forces are some of kids’ favorites to explore through hands-on projects!

Magnetism describes a force that attracts or repels objects that are made of magnetic material.

A magnet is a type of material that attracts iron and produces it's own magnetic field. Magnets have a north and a south pole. If you hold two magnets close to each other and place like poles together the magnets will repel each other. If you place the opposite poles together they will quickly attract each other.

Science and Art for Kids: Magnetic Sculptures

The creepiest slime ever: how to make magnetic slime, 4 easy magnet experiments that will amaze your kids, science for kids: bouncing magnets, steam camp: how to make a magnetic field sensory bottle, how to make a compass - magnetic science experiment for kids, five minute craft: magnet painting, make an aladdin magic flying carpet, traveling magnets, easy science experiments for kids: gravity activity with paperclips, featured magnetism videos, electricity.

Electrical force is a force that causes electically charged bodies to either repel or attract. It's the force that carries electrical current through a wire. There are two types of electrical charges: positive and negative.

Similar to magentism like charges REPEL each other and opposite charges ATTRACT each other.

Here are some fun ways to explore elctriclty with kids.

How to Make Electric Play Dough with Kids

Steam project: tiny dancers (a homopolar motor), simple electronics: how to make a magic wand, how to make dance bots an electronics project for kids, how to make salty circuits: a simple circuit project for kids, how to make a lemon battery and a lime light, how to make a lightning bug paper circuit card, make an electromagnet, science for kids: diy magnetic led lights, static electricity balloon and salt and pepper experiment, steam camp: how to make a modern art steady hand game, origami firefly paper circuits, featured electricity videos.

What we see and hear is determined by physics! This includes the behavior of light waves and sounds waves, those that we can perceive and those we cannot.

Light is a type of energy made up of photons. Our eyes can perceive some of it and some forms we cannot perceive at all. Light travels in both wave form and particle form.

Photons are particles which can transmit light.

Optics is the study of light's behavior as well as tools we use to study and understand it, including how our eyes perceive it.

For a further study of light head over here .

Magic Mirrors: How To Make Reflection Art

Optical illusion toy: decotropes, how to make a teleidoscope (a type of diy kaleidoscope), how to make a microscope with water, magic happens when you pour water into a jar, steam project ideas - zoetrope and benham disk, rainbow science: creating light patterns with a cd, light box - a great tool for exploring the museum, spiral illusion, featured optics videos.

Sound is a vibration that travels in waves and can be detected by the ear. Sound can be transmitted through air, water, and solids.

Here are some projects that make use of sound and vibrations:

Simple Engineering Project: DIY Voicepipe

Explore the science of sound with a diy spinner, how to do the dancing oobleck experiment, sound sandwich, water-bottle membranophone, vibrating snake, how to make a rainstick instrument, rainbow water xylophone - mama.papa.bubba., featured sound videos, heat, liquids, and air.

Physics also covers the study of heat and fluid dynamics which includes aerodynamics (the study of movement in air and gases) and hydrodynamics (the study of movement in liquids) .

Thermodynamics is the branch of physics that studies heat and heat transfer. When two obejcts of different temperatures come in contact, energy will transfer between them until they reach the same temperature and are in a state of equilibrium. Heat always transfers from the higher temperature to a lower temperature. You can read more about heat here.

Heat Sensitive Color Changing Slime

Kids science: flying tea bag hot air balloon, magic jumping coin trick, convection detection, inverted bottles, convection currents, featured thermodynamics videos, hydrodynamics.

Hydrodynamics is the study of how fluids move and behave and the forces they exert. And let's be honest, kids love playing with water so use it an an entree to science!

Magic Potions Density Tower

Make a freestanding diy water wall, science for kids: scupley ships, stem project- build a hydraulic elevator, buoyancy for kids: will it sink or float, science experiments for kids: siphon water coaster, anti-gravity water - sick science, simple machines science lesson: lift water with an archimedes' screw, simple rain gauge, density science for kids : create fireworks in water & oil, featured hydrodynamics videos, aerodynamics.

After playing with water I'd say thay making things fly ranks very high on kids' must try list! Aerodynamics focuses on air movement and the forces at work as objects move through the air. It's the physics branch that let's kids explore building planes, helicopters, and rockets!

How To Make A Paper Helicopter

Diy toy: zappy zoomers, awesome science experiments with hot wheels cars, whirly twirly flying birds, stem for kids: straw rockets (with free rocket template), make an indoor paper boomerang with the kids, straws circle paper planes - s.t.e.m. for kids, how to make awesome paper airplanes 4 designs, more physics for kids resources.

The following websites are terrific resources for more information on the wonderful world of physics! These all offer in depth explanations about the phenomena we touched on above and some of them also offer additional physics projects to try.

NASA and Newton’s Laws
Exploratorium
Physics 4 Kids
Science 4 Fun

More Science on Babble Dabble Do

There’s lots more science on Babble Dabble Do! Here are some additional projects collections for you to check out:

50+ Chemistry Projects for Kids

30+ science fair projects that will wow the crowd, leave a reply cancel reply.

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Ideas For Learning About Forces and Motion

May 30, 2020 By Emma Vanstone 7 Comments

Forces are all around us and affect everything we do. With that in mind, I’ve put together a collection of ideas for learning about forces and motion with fun forces and motion experiments for everyone, from preschoolers to grown-ups. There are friction experiments, gravity experiments, air resistance experiments, and lots more! Each activity is easy to set up and works well as a science project for home or school.

If you’re looking for a book full of force experiments, This IS Rocket Science might be just what you’re looking for! It contains SEVENTY experiments all about the forces involved in space travel!

Let’s start with some basics.

Forces and Motion – What is a force?

A force is a push or a pull. Forces can make objects move or stop, speed them up or slow them down. If you push a toy car it moves, if you push it harder it moves faster. Forces can also make objects change direction or shape.

A lighter object needs less force to move than a heavier object. For example you could push an empty box easily, but a filled box would be harder, it would need more force to move.

If you give a toy car a push what happens? It speeds up and then slows down. The reason it slows down is because of two forces, air resistance and friction.

Air resistance is air pushing on a moving object which slows it down.

Friction is the force between two objects when you rub them together. Try rubbing your hands together? Do they get hot? You feel the friction between your hands as heat.

Air resistance and friction take time to slow an object down, if you want an object to stop quickly you need to apply further force, for example a brake on a bike.

Other examples of forces are magnetism, gravity and air pressure.

Over the years we’ve completed lots of forces experiments on Science Sparks, here are the best ones.

Learn about simple push and pull forces in this easy activity.

Friction Experiments for Kids

What is friction.

Friction tries to stop objects sliding past each other. Friction allows things to start and stop moving and slows them down.

Imagine sliding two strips of ribbon over each other and then think how hard it would be with two velcro strips. There is more friction between the velcro strips than the ribbon. The amount of friction between two objects depends on what the objects are made from. The rougher the surface the more friction is produced, this is why rockets are streamlined!

Friction Experiments

Find out why you slip and slide more on smooth surfaces than rougher surfaces with this slipping and sliding activity. Do be careful not to fall over though.

Friction investigation - forces and motion experiments

A toy zip line is the garden is a great way to learn about friction and fun science project too!

Discover why we salt/grit icy roads in winter.

Investigate which material would make the best ice hockey puck . We want to reduce friction for a good puck as it needs to move quickly and cleanly across the ice.

ice hockey friction experiments - forces and motion

Learn about reducing friction with this easy Hovercraft

Hovercraft science experiments - friction experiment for kids

Gravity Experiments for kids

A film canister rocket is a great demonstration of lots of different forces, but it falls back to the ground thanks to gravity.

Water powered bottle rockets are another fantastic example of gravity and lots of other forces too!

Discover a cool science trick to defy gravity using magnets.

Gravity Experiments for Kids - Forces and Motion

Design and build straw rockets and launch at different angles to investigate how the flight trajectory changes.

For younger children, try this fun gravity activity from Inspiration Laboratories .

Making vehicles move – science experiments

We used carbon dioxide released from a baking soda and vinegar reaction to power a bottle boat .

Store up energy in an elastic band to make a cotton reel car move.

Slightly more simple and much more powerful is our balloon powered car .

Red Ted Art made a fun elastic powered tugboat which moves using the energy stored when you wind up an elastic band.

Magnet Experiments for Kids

Make an easy magnet maze with cardboard or even a LEGO maze .

Build some easy magnet powered cars or a magnet powered boat.

How about a magnet sensory bottle ?

Air Resistance Experiments for Kids

Explore gravity and air resistance with these simple paper spinners .

Make a parachute , can you save an egg?

Air Pressure Experiments

Watch a boiled egg drop into a bottle with a little science magic.

Make a bottle rocket . Remember you need lots of space for this one as the rocket shoots up quickly and very high!

Watch water rise with a cool air pressure experiment .

Pop the lid off a bottle with these coin poppers .

Make these shooters and explore trajectory and aerodynamics .

How about a film canister rocket ? These are great fun, always work, and fly with a pop!

film canister rocket - easy forces experiment

More ideas for learning about forces and motion

Make a simple stomp rocket !

Try this easy inertia experiment where an object drops straight down into a glass!

inertia experiment with a lemon, cardboard and a glass

Learn about kinetic energy with a homemade slingshot or lollystick catapult .

Drop water balloons filled with paint and compare splatter patterns from different heights.

Splatter patterns for learning about forces - fun forces experiment

Explore energy and ‘bouncy-ness’ with some balls and different surfaces.

Try this milk jug rocket craft and experiment from Red Ted Art.

Find out how you can stand on a paper cup without it breaking .

how can you stand on a paper cup without breaking it?

Why do you get dizzy on a roundabout ? It’s all about the forces.

You could investigate the force needed to break an eggshell .

egg shell bridge - how strong is an egg?

Finally, do you know why a balloon makes a funny noise when you let it go?

Finally, learn all about Newton’s famous Laws of Motion with even more brilliant science experiments for learning about forces.

We’ll be adding to this list constantly, so do keep popping back for more great ideas for forces and motion experiments for kids .

30 brilliant ideas for learning about forces. Fun collection of forces and motion experiments and investigations. Gravity experiments, air pressure experiments, inertia experiments and magnet experiments for kids

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Last Updated on April 19, 2024 by Emma Vanstone

Safety Notice

Science Sparks ( Wild Sparks Enterprises Ltd ) are not liable for the actions of activity of any person who uses the information in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources. Science Sparks assume no liability with regard to injuries or damage to property that may occur as a result of using the information and carrying out the practical activities contained in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources.

These activities are designed to be carried out by children working with a parent, guardian or other appropriate adult. The adult involved is fully responsible for ensuring that the activities are carried out safely.

Reader Interactions

January 29, 2014 at 9:40 pm

Love this collection, Emma!

March 03, 2015 at 7:19 pm

Wow! I love these ideas, they are fantastic!! I will be definitely be featuring these ideas on my latest post (www.thegrade3teacher.com). Thanks for sharing!