Force and Motion Activities for Kids

There are lots of terms to remember when it comes to the scientific concepts of forces and motion! One of the best ways we can help our students to understand the difference between all of these terms is to provide force and motion examples. That’s where we come in!

The dedicated team of expert teachers at Teach Starter has created this force and motion activity to help your students identify and sort different force and motion examples. The resource contains 24 sort cards and 6 category headings. The cards contain an image with an accompanying description. For example:

• Turning on a light switch
• A toy car slowing down and stopping
• Helping a friend up after a fall
• Typing on a keyboard
• Dragging a suitcase along a road

Students are required to sort each card under one of the six category headings. These are:

• Push
• Pull
• Friction
• Gravity
• Magnetism
• At rest

This force and motion activity downloads as an easy-print PDF or an editable Google Slides file. We recommend printing the resource on cardstock to increase the durability of the resource. Place the sort cards and headings into a large envelope and, hey, presto! Your force and motion activity is ready for your next science lesson!

Multiple Uses for This Force and Motion Game

When you start thinking outside the box, there is more to this force and motion game than meets the eye! Here are some other ways you might like to use these force and motion examples in your classroom:

1. Relay Race – Divide the class into two team lines. Show a force and motion example card to the students at the front of each line. The student who correctly names the type of force shown first wins the card. The team with the most cards at the end of the game wins!
2. Mirror Game – This activity works best with small groups because you’ll need enough dry erase boards and markers for each student. Divide your class into two groups seated in two lines facing each other. Project a force and motion example card onto your whiteboard and give students a set time to record their answers on their own boards. On your cue, the students turn their boards around so their partner can see their answers. If both students in a pair have the correct answer, they get 2 points. If one has the correct answer, the team gets 1 point.
3. Class Review – This force and motion activity makes a great review task at the end of your unit of work on forces and motion. Have the class sit in a circle with the heading cards in the middle. Show each force and motion example card to the students in turn, then choose a student to place under the correct heading.

The more your students engage with force and motion examples, the more confident they will become with the most common types of forces, such as gravity, magnetism and friction.

Download This Force and Motion Activity

Use the download button above to access either the easy-print PDF or the editable Google Slides version of this resource. (Note: You will be prompted to save a copy of the Google Slides file onto your personal drive before accessing it.)

As this resource contains an answer sheet, we recommend that you remove this before making multiple copies of the resource.

This resource was created by Kaylyn Chupp, a teacher in Florida and a Teach Starter collaborator.

Even More Force and Motion for Kids

Teach Starter has more great resources to save you time when teaching forces and motion to your students. Take a peek below at these teacher-created, curriculum-aligned activities!

teaching resource

Force and Motion – Poster Pack

Display information about force and motion with this set of 12 vocabulary posters.

teaching resource

Force and Motion Task Cards

Use these force and motion task cards as a student review activity in your 3rd grade science lessons.

teaching resource

Force and Motion Vocabulary Puzzles

Reinforce science vocabulary with this set of 22 force and motion vocabulary puzzles.