Make science fun and playful by making a magnet powered car! Make a road and see if you can push/pull your car in the right direction without touching it. This fun and fast science experiment is easy to set up, but provides kids with hours of exploration and entertainment.
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Today I didn’t have to negotiate screen time with my kids. They didn’t want it.
We LOVE magnets at our house. The magnet kit is one set that my kids never get tired of playing and experimenting with. Last Halloween we even made spooky levitating puppets dance using magnets!
Today we made a magnet powered car and made it go without even touching it. The Science Kiddos loved experimenting with pushing and pulling their magnet powered car using the power of magnetism.
Make a Road
We used our road tape and foam blocks to create a little city. You could also use painter’s tape to make a road and add buildings made from cardboard boxes.
Make a Magnet Powered Car
This is super simple. All you have to do is dig up a toy car and tape a magnet to it. That’s it! We used bar magnets on the cars, but I think it would add another dimension of fun and experimentation to tape a ring magnet or a horseshoe magnet onto some of the cars. Voila! You have your magnet powered car.
Make the Magnet Powered Car Go
This is where things get really fun! Grab other magnets from the set to see if you can push and/or pull the magnet powered car. Can you make it turn? Which magnet works best?
We had a riot trying out all different types of magnets to lead the car where we wanted it to go. The magnetic wands were my favorite, but my husband preferred using the horseshoe magnet.
Our kids used the ring magnets to push/pull the cars around and they even tried using the magnetic marbles! Those are little tricky because it’s not obvious where the poles are. We had a great time experimenting and playing together as we drove our magnet powered car around the track!
Kids learn through experimentation and play. It was so fun to see our kids trying out different magnets, seeing if attracting or repelling the magnet powered car was easier, and running the cars into each other to see if they repelled or attracted each other.
This was a great hands-on playful learning experience that my kids have already asked to repeat!
Try it out and let me know what you think! Come connect with us on the Science Kiddo Facebook Page to share pictures and creative ways you made your magnet powered car go.
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This post was written as part of the A-Z Science Series hosted by Frogs, Snails, and Puppy Dog Tails. Check out the entire series all month long for more fantastic playful science activities for kids!
Crystal, I just LOVE this idea! I think it’s definitely time for me to add a few more magnets to our collection … I am super inspired. Thanks for sharing!
Glad to hear it! I love magnets because they are mess-free, fun, and super-educational 🙂
This is such a cool idea! My boys will love trying this 🙂
#Pintorials
This idea is very good experiment. My children in my practicum loves cars and magnets. This activity will be useful for them
I Love magnetic car
I’m doing this for a science project, thnx for the idea ;))))))))))))))) 🙂
Thank you for your wonderful ideas, i work for an electrical company and im looking at ways i can tell young people about electrics, the nice things along side the bad ( health & safety) aspects.
i loved your cupid idea, and magnetic cars.
If you have any more ideas on this subject i would appreciate as i love seeing kids have that light bulb moment.