Discover Science: Budding Engineers

For more resources on science for preschoolers, please click here!

We're Engineers! Blast Off with Magnetic Rockets

Suitable for 4 to 6 years old

Have you ever wondered if you could move something without touching it? We’ll learn how we can power a rocket to cruise through the galaxy and even drive a car — by using magnets and their powerful magnetic forces!

Sounds impossible? As this famous quote by Norman Vincent Peale goes: “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” If we never try, we never know!

The meaning behind the quote is to pursue ambitious goals even success remains undetermined. Even if things don’t turn out as expected, you’ll still accomplish great things.

LET'S LEARN!

Welcome to the magical world of magnets! Your child will discover, learn and enjoy a lot of things as they observe magnetic forces in action while doing these STEAM activities.

A magnet is a piece of metal or rock that

• attracts and repels other magnets; and

• can pull certain types of metals toward itself.

Explain to your child that the pulling and pushing forces are called magnetism. These forces occur every day even though we cannot see them.

(Britannica Kids. n.d. Magnet and Magnetism. Retrieved December 25, 2021, from https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/Magnet-and-Magnetism/353411 )

LET'S WATCH!

Summary:
In this video, your child will learn about magnets and how magnetism aids us in everyday tasks.

Tips for Parents:

• Children are very curious. One of the best things you can do is to explore with your child and have them try making guesses as to why certain things happen.

• As they conduct their experiments, encourage your child to ask questions and praise them when they learn something new!

LET'S LEARN!

Magnetic Word Search

Tips for Parents:

Teach your children about strategy. One way is to go through the puzzle from left to right and look for the first letter of each word, and then check the surrounding letters for the next word.
This activity will help your child to understand the idea of direction: horizontal (across), vertical (up and down) and diagonal (at an angle).

• _ T T R _ C T

• R _ P _ L

• M _ G N _ T

• F _ R C _ S

• N _ R T H P _ L _

• S _ _ T H P _ L _

Draw your child’s attention to these points as they observe magnets at work:

There are so many more things you can do with magnets! Experimentation and play are fantastic ways for your child to learn a difficult concept. Read some of our book recommendations to further supplement your child’s understanding.

Checklist for Experiments and Crafts

Before we begin the activities, here are some materials that you will need:

Click on the image to download the templates (A4 Quote; A4 Maze; A4 Moon, Stars, Planets; A4 Rockets)

There are 4 activities for you to learn more about magnetic and pulling forces.

• Pulling Force: Rocket Ship

• Let’s Investigate: Scavenger Hunt & Will It Stick?

• Magnet-Powered Car

• Blast Off with Magnetic Rockets

To learn what else you can do with magnets, watch this video

• 27 Magnetic Experiments to Blow Your Mind

Book Talk (with reflection questions) & other Recommendations

• Marsha is Magnetic by Beth Ferry

Pulling Force: Rocket Ship

LET’S CREATE!

For children who wish to colour in the craft – especially with paint – please have your beautiful creation ready before you try the experiments!

Materials required:

LET'S LEARN!

Let’s Investigate: Scavenger Hunt & Will It Stick?

LET'S INVESTIGATE!

It’s time for a Scavenger Hunt!

Steps

1. With this printout, read through the descriptions together with your child. These items will be used in the follow-up experiment later.
2. Under your supervision, invite your child to look for items around the house that fit the descriptions! There can be more than one answer, so encourage your child to pick out items made up of a variety of materials.

For more fun:

1. Ask your child to commit as many items to memory as they can before they hunt for them!
2. Set a timer for 10 minutes to see how many items your child can find during the time limit.

How do you know if an object is magnetic? What keywords are being used in the description?

Tips for Parents:

• Ask your child what something metal looks like. Explain that it can be shiny, silver, smooth and are often heavy for their size.

• Upon finding an item, ask your child to describe how it looks, feels, and maybe even smells! Encouraging your child to make close observations is crucial in developing their process-thinking skills.

• As there is no fixed list of items, use this opportunity to get your child to think out of the box! Allow them to be creative as they identify the objects and ask them why they think the object fits the description. By asking open-ended questions, you are inviting them to communicate their reasonings and conclusions.

Will It Stick?

Tips for Parents:

• Magnetic objects are certain types of metals that can be attracted to magnets. They include iron and steel.

• Non-magnetic metals include copper, gold and aluminum. Other non-magnetic materials are glass, cotton, plastic (some of which you will investigate in this activity).

• Learning about the physical properties of objects is part of physical sciences. By getting your child to hypothesise, experiment, collect data, and draw conclusions, you are introducing them to important processes that develop their scientific thinking!

Steps

• In your scientific notebook or piece of paper, draw a table (3 columns and 16 rows) and in the first column, write down the name of each object found in your search. The first example was done for you.

• With the observations table, ask your child if they think the object is magnetic or non-magnetic. Write “Yes” or “No” in the Prediction column.

• Use the magnet to test out your child’s predictions and record the observations! Emphasise that even if some of their guesses are wrong, an experiment is about trying things out and learning from them!

You may ask these questions during the activity:

• For magnetic objects, what do you think they have in common? What key word is mentioned during the scavenger hunt activity when describing the magnetic objects? (Ans: Metal)

• Shall we sort the objects into the two categories? How would you categorise them? Test out their theory with a magnet.

Magnet-Powered Car

LET'S EXPERIMENT!

This is where you can see both the push and pull of two magnets in action!

Blast Off with Magnetic Rockets

LET’S CREATE!

For children who wish to colour in the craft – especially with paint – please have your beautiful creation ready before you try the experiments!

Materials required:

Click the image (above) to retrieve the instructions on creating the crafts, a Magnet-Powered Rocket and even a Magnetic Magic Wand!

Instructions

1. Make your own galaxy using a paper plate and the maze on page 2 from the printable.
   You can also choose to decorate with planets and stars from page 4!
2. Using a Magnetic Magic Wand (or a regular magnet), ask your child to think about how they can have the rocket move around the galaxy…without touching the rocket! How can invisible magnetic forces be used to do this?

LET'S EXPERIMENT!

• Did you notice that the magnets are able to stick together through paper and cardboard? The magnetic field and forces of attraction are so strong!

• Would it be easier or more difficult to pull them apart if the magnets were stronger? Their strength varies across the different types and sizes.

• Can the magnets be attracted to each other if they are far apart?

• Race your own rocket with your child. By having another pair of magnets and a coloured rocket, you can challenge your child to a friendly competition.

Tips for Parents:

This is a high-quality STEM experience because it gets children to learn about a tough topic like magnets and magnetic forces through hands-on sensory activities, which allows them to remember and understand better.

Ask your child how they think the rocket (with the magnet attached) can move if they’re not allowed to directly touch it.

With the facts learned earlier about the attraction between two magnets, demonstrate how the Magnetic Magic Wand can move the rocket ship around the paper plate.

Your child can angle the plate to check on both sides how one magnet can move the other.

Explain that the magnetic field and force of attraction are strong enough to pass through the paper plate.

Let your child explore moving the rocket around through the obstacles (stars and planets) that they glued on the paper plate.

With the same concept, get your children to try manoeuvring their rocket through the maze.

If you and your child enjoyed the bonding activities, tag us on social media with your completed works at @publiclibrarysg!

LET'S WATCH!

For more on what you can do with magnets:

Summary:
What can you do with a magnet, battery, and spring?
What about a handful of paper clips and glasses of water?
Watch what happens in this video and follow along as your child discovers more about magnets and STEAM concepts!

Marsha is Magnetic by Beth Ferry

LET'S READ!

Tips for Parents:

• Encourage your child to ask questions and stay curious. If their minds are always wondering “Why?” and “How?”, try your best to answer them. If you can’t, see it as an opportunity to learn together! Look for answers in books together or from online resources.

• Another way to help them learn is to have them read more books on Science topics that interest them and attend EARLY READ Science programmes by National Library Board!

LET'S READ MORE!

The copyright of all book covers belongs to the respective publishers or illustrators.

Look for these wonderful books and more on the NLB Catalogue!