Pushes and Pulls

Young children enjoy moving their own bodies, making things move and observing motion in the world around them. Pushes and pulls — what scientists call forces — act on objects, materials and living things and can make them move, stop, speed up, slow down, change direction or change shape. Forces can be applied or occur in nature. Five-year-olds experiment with changing how objects move — by rolling balls on ramps, for example — and make predictions about how fast or far their balls will roll. They draw on their past experiences to generate ideas about how the motion of balls, balloons, water and other things can be controlled or changed. When you provide safe spaces and lots of opportunities for your child to explore pushes and pulls, you promote their critical thinking. As you help them design, build and create structures for exploring motion, you also support their problem-solving skills and help them think like engineers. As you investigate pushes and pulls with your child, talk with them about their experiences. Introduce words — like strong, stable, balanced, collide and directional words — that help them express what they are doing, noticing and thinking about. Individual children will be interested in exploring different things, so remember to follow your child’s lead!