Friction Facts for Kids

Friction is a contact force that resists motion when two objects move against each other. It is like an invisible hand that tries to slow things down when they move. An invisible hand? That’s a strange concept for our students to grapple with!

Never fear… Teach Starter’s friction facts slide deck is here to explain the fabulous force of friction to your elementary school students! This 14-slide teaching presentation has been created by our dedicated team to help you explain the force of friction and how it works to your students. The slide deck delves into the ins and outs of friction using child-friendly language (while also including those important subject-specific content words!), and includes attractive images to teach your students what they need to know about this important contact force in an appealing way.

The slide deck addresses the following content:

• The discovery of friction
• Low friction
• When is low friction helpful?
• High friction
• When is high friction helpful?
• Too much friction?
• The importance of friction

To keep your students engaged throughout, knowledge check questions have been scattered through the slide deck. 

Through engaging with this friction facts presentation, your students will have a clearer understanding of how the force of friction works and how humans would be quite lost without it!

Observe Friction in Action

What’s the best way to learn about the force of friction? By seeing it in action, of course!

The final slide in this presentation links to a student-directed investigation that will enable students to see the effect that friction has on different moving objects. All your students will need to complete this investigation is a large journal and three classroom objects that are made out of different materials, e.g. rubber, plastic, metal. 

The resource also includes several worksheets where students can record their observations and analyze what these observations can tell them about how friction affects the movement of objects.

We highly recommend that you use this investigation in conjunction with this slide deck. Click on the link below to download!

Download This Friction for Kids Slide Deck

Use the Download button to access the Google Slides version of this resource. (Note: You will be prompted to make a copy of the Google Slides presentation before accessing it.)

Project the resource onto your screen and work through the slides as a class for a paperless science lesson!

More Resources for Your Lessons on Forces

If you’re looking for more ways to save time on your science planning, we are here to help! Click below for more teacher-aligned, student-centered resources to use in your science lessons on forces!

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