All Activities
Science

Forces Around Us

Overview

Children investigate two invisible forces — gravity and friction — by observing and experimenting with everyday objects.

Learning Objective
Children identify gravity and friction as forces and can describe their effects on moving objects.

Resources needed

  • A ball
  • A ramp made from any flat surface and a support
  • Various surface materials: smooth stone, rough cloth, sand

Lesson stages

0 / 7 done
  1. 1 Drop a ball from different heights — it always falls down. Ask: why?
  2. 2 Introduce gravity: an invisible force that pulls everything toward the Earth.
  3. 3 Ask: what would happen on the Moon? (weaker gravity — things fall more slowly and you can jump higher).
  4. 4 Roll the ball down a ramp onto different surfaces.
  5. 5 Compare: it travels further on smooth stone than on rough cloth. Ask: why?
  6. 6 Introduce friction: a force that slows things down when surfaces touch.
  7. 7 Ask: is friction always bad? When is friction useful? (walking, brakes, gripping).

Tap a step to mark it as done.

Variations

  • Measure how far the ball rolls on different surfaces.
  • Test the effect of adding weight to the rolling object.
  • Compare a smooth ball and a rough stone rolling down the same ramp.
More information

Teach: gravity, friction, force, surface, smooth, rough, slow down, speed up. The key insight: friction is not just a problem — without it we could not walk.

Focus on gravity alone first — make it concrete by dropping objects of different sizes — before introducing friction.

Can children explain what gravity does? Can they describe how different surfaces affect the speed of a rolling object?

Make a ramp from any flat board, book, or piece of wood. Use a ball or smooth stone. Test surfaces that already exist: soil, leaf, rock, cloth.

Children often think heavier objects fall faster than lighter ones. Dropping a large stone and a small stone from the same height challenges this — they land at the same time.

Gravity and friction are the two forces most relevant to everyday experience. Understanding them builds the conceptual framework for Newton's laws studied in secondary science.

Activity details
Primary Medium 20 minutes no prep Whole Class, Small Group Indoor & Outdoor
Topics
Forces Gravity Friction