This six-week forces and magnets Year 3 series of lessons focuses on giving children an understanding of what makes objects move and how.

Plan author Abby King has devised a range of activities for effective and engaging learning using different materials and the character Traction Man from the book of the same name by Mini Grey.

We’ve produced a range of free resources to make delivery of this medium-term plan as easy as possible. Both the plan and the resources are included in this download.

Forces and magnets Year 3 learning objectives

• Understand that forces are pushes and pulls which can make things move, stop or change shape
• Make systematic and careful observations
• Compare how things move on different surfaces
• Set up simple practical inquiries, comparative and fair tests
• Understand that some forces need contact, but magnetic forces can act at a distance
• Observe how magnets attract some materials and not others
• Compare and group together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of whether they are attracted to a magnet and identify some magnetic materials
• Use results to draw simple conclusions and suggest improvements
• Describe magnets as having two poles
• Describe points on a compass
• Observe how magnets attract or repel each other
• Predict whether magnets will attract or repel each other, depending on which poles are facing
• Report on findings from enquiries, including oral and written explanations, displays, or presentations of results and conclusions
• Record findings using simple scientific language, drawings, labelled diagrams, keys

Abby King has worked in KS1 and 2 and currently teaches at an inner-city primary school in Birmingham.

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