Monday, January 26, 2015

Magnets on Metal Exploration

For the past few months I’ve asked families to collect their tin cans and bring them to school.  Last week I finally felt we had enough to set up an activity with magnets.  This activity was inspired by a post over at Teach Preschool.
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Bowls were set up with ‘extras’, which included…            
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Magnet-backed foam letters, great for identifying and matching our ABCs.
Plus they added some colour to the table.

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Magnet wands helped us learn how magnets can move items around.
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And how they are tools to help us stack cans to make a tower.

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Various small magnets were used to stick cans and metal pieces together.  Sometimes they look like a face.

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Frozen juice can lids were great for picking up and building sculptures.

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Metal nuts were fun to pick up with the magnet wand because they became magnetized as they were lifted and all stuck together.  They were heavy to lift.

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And the super-magnets were very strong.  They stick through our hand and the table.

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I'm wondering what else I can add to extend this activity?  Any ideas?